You're So Strange
by evangeline92w
Summary: Set a little before and during the events in "The Dark Knight". A woman who is secretly a bit of a freak herself is kidnapped by the Joker and finds herself, to her horror, seeing more and more logic in his warped views of the world. Rating may go up.
1. Chapter 1

Kayla stared at the insertion point flashing at her on her computer screen. She knew she had been staring at it for a long time without looking at the clock because it was beginning to blink to the beat of a song that had been stuck in her head.

Rubbing her forehead she looked around the for once silent Harvey Dent Campaign Headquarters. She knew she was lucky she even had a job here being straight out of the university, but she was smart enough to know how much trouble she could get in without really getting in trouble.

You see she was one of their 'public appearance' workers which her degree in Political Science somewhat helped her out with. She was _supposed_ to be writing an advising essay to one of Dent's speechwriters to help him understand the 'concerns' of middle class Gotham based on some statistics.

"_What a moron_" she thought to herself "_Does the guy ever turn on the tv_?"

There were nightly reports on how the restoration of the Narrows was going and the progress the Gotham Police were making with rounding up the escaped Arkham inmates.

She saved what little progress was made on her essay and opened up Internet Explorer, watching as her point was made right in front of her.

"Armed robbery…double homicide…" She skimmed through the article on the front page of Yahoo News looking for something new.

"GDP puzzled by the murder of accomplice…Police suspect connection to the recent string of robberies by a symbol or calling card left by the presumably escaped Arkham criminal."

She laughed to herself "_murder of accomplice_" this guy was smart…he should be fun to follow.

Losing interest she quickly checked her mail and left for the night, thankful she wasn't the last one there so she didn't have to bother with the closing procedures.

Getting to her apartment she hit the play button answering machine…already knowing who the messages were from as she had purposely not answered them on her cell phone.

"Kayla?!...are you there?!" A loud voice she immediately recognized came through the speakers and she decided to spare herself by skipping to the next message.

"Hey Kayla, it's me" She closed her eyes and sighed upon hearing Alyssa, her high school friend who at this point in her life just annoyed her (much like she always had). "Guess what?! I got the job working for Dr. Keyser! He says that I'm by far the best choice from the others who applied fresh out of school and he even wants me to work alongside him with some of his personal patients. Anyway you have to call me soon we need to catch up! See ya!"

"Noooooo" Kayla said out loud "You need to brag to someone because you still can't seem to find anyone else who cares." She finished annoyed

Hopping into her PJ's she snuggled down under the covers figuring it best to just call and get it over with. After all if she blew her off again she might try to start something and Kayla may finally snap at her and give her what she's had coming for over 10 years, and in the process end up screwing up the rest of her life as well.

She attempted to will herself to be sleep but instead let her mind wander to other things.

"_Stop…stop_!" She thought to herself, there was only one place that her thoughts ever led to and she refused to let herself think anymore tonight.

**Okay okay…I promise the Joker will be in the next chapter, please continue reading!**

**Constructive criticism is always welcome and reviews make my day ******


	2. Chapter 2

**Alright, super long chapter…I know. But I promised Joker in this chapter and, well…I'm a man of my word. Lol, girl actually.**

**Alright on with the story**

_4 WEEKS LATER_

Kayla glanced at the clock one final time before deciding it was time she got out of bed. It was her day off but she still had to meet up with Alyssa for a late lunch and then make a few stops before coming home and she wanted to have a couple hours to just lie around and read before she had to start getting ready.

Since Dent's election she had been getting less and less hours since his campaign was over and though she was enquiring to her supervisor there on the possibility of a full time job, she was enjoying the short hours she was getting…it just wasn't putting a whole lot in her wallet.

Walking over to her closet she picked up the outfit she had chosen the night before and carried it over to the bathroom with her. A dark blue pair of what the store called 'boyfriend' flare jeans and a lacy striped green tank top which was rather tight fitting so she threw on a very sheer white babydoll tank over it. Paired with some simply white flip flops she was pleased with her comfortable yet presentable outfit.

After her normal morning routine she dressed, moussed and blow dried her short choppy brown and dark purple hair, and applied her makeup, smoky dark black shadow and liner, black mascara, dark brown eyebrow liner, light powder cover-up, and finally some bronzer on her cheeks; she glanced at herself wondering why she hadn't done the easy thing and become a makeup artist.

"_My natural talent but no, that would have made life too simple."_

She went out and turned on the tv listening to the morning commentators on Fox discuss how the city was handling the growing "Joker situation".

She smiled to herself as she scratched her orange calico cat Mops on the head, down by her feet…she enjoyed hearing about this guy more than anyone should.

Turning off the tv, she grabbed her purse and keys and was out the door.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

She saw Alyssa walk into Starbucks with an excited smile on her face…time to put on hers as fake as it was.

"Hey"

"Hey"

"Soooo" She figured she should at least pretend she wanted to hear "How's the new job going?"

She instantly regretted asking.

"It's so amazing…….." Alyssa proceeded to talk for 15 minutes about her new job and gorgeous boss, finally asking "So how are you doing? I'm honestly a little scared to be in Gotham right now with some freak dressed as a clown running around killing and raping people."

She frowned "I'm fine, and I think you're confused, the Joker hasn't raped anyone and I doubt he would."

"Right so you're the doctor now huh? What's that look anyway; don't tell me this guy has turned in to another one of your obsessions?"

Kayla rolled her eyes "I'm not obsessed with him, I just admire him a little…" she trailed off smiling.

"What is wrong with you? You're going to turn into that lady from Natural Born Killers, you know that right?" She shook her head and leaned foreword slightly "Okay I know how you hate it when I try to be your doctor but are you sure you shouldn't go see someone…you never know…it may help." She whispered it as if she were telling Kayla a secret or something.

She just laughed and shook her head smiling "Come on, does that sound like me. I just think crazy thoughts I never actually do any of them."

They laughed it off though Kayla could tell Alyssa was more than a little freaked out.

"Well…" Kayla started "I've gotta run, my boss called this morning and wants me to stop by to type up some stuff." She lied easily

"Okay well you need to keep in touch with me better cause I don't want to come out here anymore than I have too."

"Okay will do." Kayla said as she got up heading for the door and resisting the urge to run.

"_Alright first stop the bank."_ She thought to herself

She walked the short distance over to Gotham National Bank and quickly ran up the steps, skipping every other one.

Kayla walked into the bank, looking around for who she thought would be the next available teller. Seeing one man seemed to be finishing up at the far end, she walked over the one of the five large desks in the center of the bank to write out a withdrawal slip thanks to another considerably smaller paycheck and God's gift of bills.

She picked up a pen "_Hmmm…credit card, cell phone, um a little extra for food…I'll say 150 just to be saf-" _ An extremely loud noise interrupted her thoughts, making her jump.

Gunshots!? Kayla whirled around

"All right everybody! Hands up, heads down! I said hands up, heads down!" Shouted one of the three clown masked men running into the bank, guns blazing.

Feeling her entire body shudder she ducked down facing the windows and street, her back against the last desk, and began thinking at the speed of light.

"_This isn't happening, it's not, no…it's alright…" _The sound of the gunshots had put her on edge and shaky "_all they want is money, just money…"_

"Let's go, pal! I'm making a withdrawal here!" She heard the clown behind her shout. Suddenly, coming to her senses, she finally realized that the clown masks could only mean that the GPD's mysterious Joker character was here.

She stopped shaking and actually got a bit excited, she had no idea why in the middle of a bank robbery.

"Heads down! All right, don't fool around with me, stay down here!"

Still leery, Kayla turned her head to watch the two visible clowns, one had a hold of a security guard at the far table, and the other was unzipping a blue duffle on the desk. Leaning out a bit further she saw it was packed with grenades and felt her ounce of courage disappear again…the Joker may interest her but she certainly didn't have a death wish.

"Obviously we don't want you doing anything with your hands, other than holding on for dear life!" The clown behind her stated as she watched the one with grenades walk around the desk and placed a grenade in a trembling man's hand, pulling out the safety pin.

He turned quickly seeing her and started for her…she just stared at him with wide eye and her mouth slightly agape and he crouched down in front of her, cocking his head to the side when he saw her expression was not one of fear but more…nervous curiosity. He quickly however, placed a grenade between her hands and pulled out the safety pin continuing on out of her line of sight to the rest of the people between the desks and teller stations.

She shook her head at being the one opposite them all and stared at the grenade fixed in her hand's…she couldn't throw it without catching attention but there was no other way to get it away from her and she feared putting it down in front of one of them.

Kayla looked over when she heard a grunt and saw the one at the far table had hit the security guard with the butt of his gun, causing him to double over on the desk he was pressed against "On the ground! Stay on the ground! Nobody move! Nobody! Stay down!" He shouted as he waved his gun around threateningly.

Kayla looked behind him seeing the bank manager move ever so slightly but jumped and threw her back hard against the desk again when she heard the sound of broken glass and another gunshot…this she recognized from a shotgun.

The manager had shot the clown closest to him and was making advances into the bank lobby…she saw the clown that had placed the grenade in her hand back himself up behind 

the middle desk facing her and felt a thud against her own from her left…she guess the other behind her and thrown himself behind it.

She looked to be right in the middle of this but with no choice but to stay still.

Another gunshot came from the obviously more than bank manager by night, and she watched the grenade clown scramble to his partner near her desk, dodging three more shots before sliding to the side of the desk on her left.

"Hey! You have any idea who you're stealing from? You and your friends are dead!" The manager shouted, drawing out the word 'dead'.

"He's out right?" She very faintly heard one of the clown's ask, but heard no response, only the final shot from the managers gun and she guessed one had stood up and tried to shoot.

"What the-" she heard behind her and out of what seemed no where the grenade clown jumped out firing at least 5 shots into the manager as she watched him fall over to the right of her.

Kayla clutched the grenade, somehow forgetting what it was "_Oh god" _She thought as she saw multiply blood spots appear and rapidly enlarge on his blue shirt. It was so…real…it looked like in movies, but the knowledge that it wasn't one made watching it something different; but still she wasn't exactly affected by seeing a man shot in front of her, she didn't know him, he really didn't matter to her, but she really didn't want to be him.

"Where did you learn to count?!" One of the two remaining clowns shouted angrily at the other as she heard his footsteps grow faint as he left the lobby, she looked up at him to see him staring at the manager he'd just shot down. She now felt very isolated and alone since she couldn't see or hear anyone but him.

"_To have that kind of…power…freedom"_ She watched him with a slight smile of admiration and she could tell even through the mask that his gaze shifted to her for several moments. He moved side to side on the balls of his feet facing her, and put a hand on his knee so he was closer to eye level with her…she watched him begin to reach into a pocket in the inside of his jacket and grew slightly nervous but refused to let it show.

He pulled out something black and with a click and the sudden appearance of a blade she realized it was a knife, suddenly deeply regretting her curiosity and staring.

"Well well well…"

The words seemed to roll off his tongue playfully though she couldn't see his face and he crouched down in front of her once again, turning the blade over in his hand.

"You know" He cleared his throat "if I didn't know any better, I would think I had a secret admirer…" He brought the blade up towards her face and she pressed her head as hard as she could into the back of the desk…attempting to look calm but knew she was failing with each glance at the knife.

"But I do know better…" he wrapped his hand around the back of her neck quickly and forcefully but she dropped the grenade suddenly and grabbed the hand he had the knife in with both of hers, struggling to keep it away from herself.

"Now there there what's wrong? You don't want to play anymore huh?" He asked with mock sympathy and curiosity

"Get away from me…please" she said struggling with the words and she focused her strength on keeping the knife away. She hadn't wanted to beg, but fear took control of her words.

They both stopped suddenly, distracted by a sound that was coming from behind her.

He stood up and pocketed the blade, walking away from her and she heard another man's voice she recognized as the other clown.

"Having a little bit of fun over there huh?" He said receiving no reply and walked into her line of sight dragging bags of cash with the grenade clown "That's a lot of money. If this Joker guy was so smart, he'd had have us bring a bigger car."

She heard a gun cock as the clown who talked to her had and slowly turned around to face the gun.

"I'm betting the Joker told you to kill me soon as we loaded the cash." The clown with the gun said.

He sighed and looked at his watch "No, no no no, I kill the bus driver." The clown stated taking a step towards the lobby where she could see him better and the other moved to his left out of her sight.

"Bus driver?" The other clown said in confusion and the other took another step over and he matched it.

"What bus driver?" The clown asked barely getting the words out as the back of a school bus crashed through the doors and hit him, burying him in debris and dust as well.

Kayla once again jumped out of her skin but, once she slowed her heart rate down, couldn't suppress the little smile on her face and held back the little pang of laughter that had come up her throat; but caught the remaining clown's attention and he did a double take when he noticed her smiling.

The back of the bus suddenly opened up and she saw _another_ masked man appear and hop out.

"School's out, time to go." He said and he began catching bag's the other clown was throwing at him and loading them. "He's not getting up, is he?" He asked referring to the man he hit with the bus.

Kayla watched them finish loading the rest of the bags, finding herself staring at him once again.

"What happened to the rest of the guys?" The clown who drove the bus asked to the other turning his back and quickly firing a good 6 to 7 rounds into him causing Kayla jump.

The last clown found several more bags and threw them in the back of the bus, starting in himself until the wounded manager spoke up suddenly and he turned his head.

"Think you're smart, huh?" The manager said coughing "...hired goons. They'll just do the same to you."

Kayla quickly turned her attention back to him, shocked he was still able to talk, and watched the clown look around as he walked back towards him pulling something from his back and crouching down right in front of Kayla but facing the manager.

"Oh, the criminals in this town used to believe in things. Honor. Respect. Look at you. What do you believe, huh? What do you believe in!?" He was silenced suddenly as the clown stuck something resembling a grenade in his mouth.

"I believe, whatever doesn't kill you simply makes you" He pulled off his clown mask only to reveal another painted on his skin "…stranger." He finished with a smile before grabbing the man's gun and standing up facing Kayla and looking amused by her look of shock.

"You…you could be a lot of fun you know…I can tell that in people…hop in." He said but didn't wait for her answer as he knew all he would have gotten was a blank stare.

He roughly grabbed her arms with her shouting and screaming things like "No!" and "Let me go!" over and over and over again, and pulled her up pushing her towards the bus. Knowing she would lose as he still had the knife she managed to loop the strap of her purse around her foot and drag it with her. He didn't seem to mind until she put her foot against the bus, refusing to let him push. Suddenly grabbing her thighs, he pushed her up unexpectedly and she stumbled into the back of the bus, tripping over bags of cash on her way. She sat down near the middle of the bus and quickly hid her purse under the seat, hoping he'd forget about it.

"_Wishful thinking"_ She thought to herself

She looked behind her to see him pull something like a string out of the back of his pants and shut the door. He walked towards the front, hopping over the money bags and smirking at her as he passed.

He giggled madly as he sat down and she quickly got up and walked towards the back, seeing the string stuck in the door as the bus started moving and noticing it traveled all the way back to the bank managers mouth.

Her breath caught in her throat as the bus started moving and she turned away, for once thinking that something might bother her.

She slowly walked back to her seat looking out the window she noticed it was an emergency exit window and she smiled to herself "_…perfect"_


	3. Chapter 3

**Wow, thank you guys so much for the reviews and favorites, I never knew how happy they would make me until I actually got some. Also, I was having some majorly frustrating writers block, not with this chapter but with one that's to come a little later so it was great encouragement.**

**Oh and I completely forgot before, I sadly do not own the Joker or anything Batman related, but I do own Kayla.**

Kayla took one last look at who she now recognized as the Joker, scars and all, before turning her attention back to the window.

"_As interesting as he sounds…I think I'll stick to watching the news"_ She thought to herself, not wanting to become just another dead hostage.

"_Emergency Exit - To open push bar up and push glass out."_ Kayla stood and took a hold of the bar on the bottom of the window with both hands, giving it one good tug upwards.

She heard a rather loud cross between a pop and crack and looked nervously to the front of the bus to see the Joker staring back at her.

"Ahhh…I don't remember seeing a bus stop anywhere." He stated to before turning back to the road quickly and taking one hand to pick up his gun…pointing it around wildly behind him. "Why don't you sit up here with me."

Kayla looked back at the window and the moving ground below…suddenly the thought of jumping out of it, head first now to avoid possible gunfire, sounded less than appealing.

"Bring your purse up while you're at it" He said turning around again and quickly motioning her to him with his gun.

Kayla groaned in frustration as she retrieved her purse from under the seat and started up to the front of the bus, thinking too late that she should have taken her phone out and hidden it, but his eyes were on her now and she was in plain sight.

Walking up towards him gave her the overwhelming need to go to the bathroom and she trembled uncontrollably and he followed her movements with the gun and whistled and called to her like a dog "Come up here, come on, I don't bite…..much"

She sat down as soon as she got there for fear she would pee her pants.

"Now give that to me" She handed her purse over and watched him put it down near his feet "That's a good girl. Now put this over your head." He motioned for her to pick up a spare cloth bag, like the ones they had stuffed money in.

"I won't tell anyone where you are if you'll just let -" She started but he cut her off

"Well what fun would that be…come on" He coaxed her playfully, licking the side of his lip, but kept his gun pointed in her direction…eyes shifting between her and the bag

She reached down and unzipped the empty bag, feeling foolish and helpless as she slipped it over her head and put her feet up on her seat, back against the window of her seat.

She heard him giggle relentlessly and would occasionally feel as though he was glancing at her, but chalked it up to paranoia.

The bus took turn after turn and stop after stop and she guessed they had been traveling for about 15 or 20 minutes since she had but the bag on…but in city traffic she knew that didn't necessarily mean they were far from where they had started.

She heard him sigh loudly "Home sweet home" He said as she brought her hands up to remove the bag but felt his hands grab her wrist and pull them back down to her side.

"Tsk tsk tsk…not just yet." She heard the bus door open and suddenly felt him pull her up and down the steps, catching her and she fell and laughing at her clumsiness.

Angered and embarassed, she thrashed as him blindly and felt herself get one hit over his head, grabbing his hair until she what she knew was a gun point in her stomach.

Bringing himself around behind her, he pointed the gun to her lower back and guided her inside. Kayla immediately yanked the bag off and looked around.

It was an apartment building no doubt, but there were no owners in sight, just a small group of low life looking criminals playing cards in the small room opposite the front desk.

"Hey boss, how'd the job go?" One asked "Did you bring home a toy for us?" Another said as they looked Kayla up and down

"Nooo….." The Joker said "and go out in the alley across the street and see for yourselves…that bus can't just sit there all day and there are 22 bags of cash there better be 22 in the basement when I check later tonight."

They stared blankly at him

"What, you look confused" He said slightly agitated "…there's the door" He said, pointing the gun at it as the men dropped the cards mumbling "right away boss"

"Up up up" He chirped in a slightly higher pitch to Kayla, shoving her towards the stairs and she climbed up to the top floor, him following closely.

The doors were almost all shut but he motioned her to one at the corner of the square hallway. He quickly opened the door for her like a gentleman and gave her a smirk before roughly shoving her inside, laughing.

"I'll be back" He quoted dramatically before slamming the door and locking it.

Kayla got up immediately and observed the doorknob…she could tell the original lock had been replaced with a different one that could only be opened from the outside. Other than that, the room looked like your normal trashy apartment. There was a twin size bed that was pushed up against the wall, a crummy nightstand, desk, and chair were the only other 

furniture. There was an empty closet with a few hangers and a small window surrounded by peeling paint which she walked over to and, with a considerable amount of effort, opened.

The buildings she could see all looked alike, like rundown apartment buildings, and she was guessing the one she was in looked exactly the same. Other than that, there wasn't much there to notice…there was nothing here familiar to her.

She slumped down under the window and sat there for at least half an hour, motionless and thinking of nothing at all. She only jumped when she heard a several gunshots from outside and angry shouting.

Getting up she looked out the window and saw further down the street two groups of men were having some kind of shootout from behind their cars. It didn't surprise her in the type of neighborhood she seemed to be in and when the shooting died down she was equally less shocked that no cop had responded.

Looking around she eyed the metal hangers in the closet and the lock again. She walked over to them and took one out, trying to bend the hook until it was straight enough to attempt to pick the lock with. She had successfully picked only two door locks in her lifetime and that was in high school.

"_Come on!" _She said to herself and she tried to cram it into the lock…it was too big to fit into the lower portion of the keyhole but as she struggled with the door suddenly swung open, hitting her knee rather painfully with its edge and she jumped backwards.

"Well would you look at that" The Joker said eyeing the hanger in her hand, tongue darting out to lick his lower lip "aren't we resourceful."

**Okay not exactly the most exciting chapter, I know, but I have a number of them already written and I don't want to upload too fast and then make everybody wait like 5 days for an update or something.**

**Oh and I have pictures of what I picture Kayla looking like in my profile…yeah…she's really pretty I know, but its fiction and we can dream right?**


	4. Chapter 4

**Once again, I thank everyone (especially Staring At The Queen and Laurenmlbc) for the reviews and favorites. Constructive criticism and suggestions are always welcome and highly appreciated, but if you want to just tell me you like it, that's okay too! :-) I didn't say before because I thought it may make people shy away, but this is my first fanfiction, so I hope no one flames me or anything lol.**

**I sadly don't own the Joker or anything Batman related, I do own Kayla however.**

* * *

He took slow deliberate steps towards her and motioned for her to stand up.

"Look what I have here" He said excitedly as he brought her purse out from behind his back "Let's take a look shall we"

He sat down on the bed and she looked toward the open door, foolishly considering running for it, but she turned to see him pull what she could see was part of a gun out of her purse.

"That" He looked towards the door "would not be the best direction to ugh… take your life in right now."

She turned herself so she was completely facing him and crossed her arms, suddenly feeling rather bold when she looked down on him.

"Coach" He commented on the purse "Expensive taste"

He took out her wallet and began pulling out all her cards

"Name: Kayla L. Austen….. Date of Birth: October 13th, 1985….. Brown hair, blue eyes, 5'06", and 115 pounds." He looked at her "That's a lie if I ever heard one."

If he was trying to aggravate her, he was doing a good job; she couldn't stand people going through her things and insulting her about her weight made her all the more furious.

"Oh please, every woman out there lies on those things; you of all men should know how people really work." She spat, so what if she had taken off a good 4 or 5 pounds.

He licked his lower lip again and she started to believe it was some nervous habit of his "Oh believe me, I take the good Dr. House's advice…which is why I think you're not as boring as your Driver's Licenses lets on."

He continued to look through her wallet, glancing at her credit and debit cards, bank card, and insurance until he saw her old school id. "University of Iowa" He shook his head with a rather disapproving look on his face "What was your major?"

"I had a double in Political Science and American History."

He smirked "You a bookworm?

"No" Kayla said defensively

"The tuition and room and board cost you how many thousands of dollars a year?" He didn't expect her to answer "The things I could have done with that money." He said dreamily

"You mean buildings you could have exploded." She corrected "You think it's a waste to get a degree? You need that for a halfway decent job nowadays." She challenged

"No no no no you're not seeing the big picture…a job is a waste."

She fell silent, knowing the conversation would go nowhere but she couldn't help but agree with him a bit. "_Who doesn't to a certain extent" _She thought _"It's just that nobody acts on it."_

He pulled out her ID card for the Dent Campaign Headquarters and his face lit up. "You work for Harvey Dent?"

"Not personally if that's what you mean…I've only met him a couple times and I doubt he would remember me."

"Still" He giggled madly before falling silent and continuing.

"It's a good thing I don't need any money." The Joker stated, revealing her money pocket to her with its whole 18 worth of cash.

He tossed the wallet on the bed and dumped the rest of her purses contents on the bed, she was reminded of the situation when the gun came out and he stuck it in the back of his pants.

"Cell phone, iPod, checkbook, gum, keys, Advil, and…mace" He finished, drawing out the last word with a smile "Fairly light packing for a girl your age, I like that."

He took her license out of her wallet and her keys and pocketed them before taking out a lighter and putting her things back in her purse. He held it up in front of him and she realized what he was going to do before tackling him on the bed.

He giggled wildly as she played a game of tug a war with him over her purse. She suddenly realized she was straddling him as he looked her up and down and froze; he took the opportunity to shove her off and pulled a knife out of nowhere.

"There there, calm down, it's just_ stuff_…it's not what your life should be about." He scolded "There's just so much more…fun…in life if you act on completely on impulse, I can teach you how to do that."

"I don't want you to teach me anything?" She tried to keep her voice steady but eyed the knife warily and knew she sounded fearful

"Everyone does, they just don't know it yet."

"Do I make you nervous hmmm?" He asked innocently grabbing the back of her head "Is it the scars? You wanna know how I got 'em?" He seemed so excited to tell her that she couldn't help but let curiosity get the better of her and stop struggling against his iron grip.

He was about to speak when there was a loud knock on the door and he let her go roughly, looking agitated.

"What is it" He asked as he opened the door

You got a guy downstairs, says he wants to talk to you, I think he's mob"

He turned and smirked at Kayla "Looks like I'm in trouble." He said, motioning his thug out and he turned and picked up her purse, lighting it on fire and tossing it out the window. With that he followed out the door, leaving her to her thoughts.


	5. Chapter 5

**Again, thank you for the reviews and favorites, they make my day ******

**I own nothing but Kayla. ******

Kayla sat on the bed, having just watched her purse burn up on the ground below her. She broke down in sobs, still unable to believe this had actually happened to her; she had almost been _raped_. The words sounded foreign in her mind.

Locked in once again, she seriously considered giving in, but then she realized she didn't know what she would be giving in to. Why had she been brought here, there was the possibility of rape, which she cringed at; or he wanted a hostage, but she was a nobody and surely he could find better people for that. Now that he knew she was working for Dent there was a strong possibility he would exploit it somehow.

The sound of several gunshots downstairs pulled her from her thoughts and she suddenly wished she could be free of the room not only to escape but to see what the Joker was doing. Despite what she would say and her desire to escape, he still fascinated her in some twisted way.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

The Joker stood over the body of one of Maroni's thugs, insulted that the man didn't even have the balls to show up himself. Apparently he had made an impression, but not a big enough one.

"_Doesn't matter"_ He thought to himself "…_the Bat and those fools at the police department will have them cornered soon enough."_

He smiled as he took out his knife and began to cut the dead man's face, starting at the corners of his mouth and curving upward to form a permanent bloody smile. He ran and fetched his face paint from upstairs and brought it back down as his men stared at him. He let out a low laugh as he smeared the white, black, and red on the man's face before standing. Happy he had thought to have Maroni followed several weeks back.

"Fellas, see to it that Maroni's little messenger here makes it home safely. Put him in a box and leave him on the doorstep." He instructed "I'll be out for a bit, keep an eye on the girl, and make sure she doesn't try anything."

He walked out the door to one of the several cars outside and got in, taking out Kayla's driver's license.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Try as she might to listen to hear what had taken place, from the top floor she couldn't. Minutes seemed to stretch into hours and she was beginning to have to use the bathroom very badly, she hadn't eaten since breakfast, and the only entertainment she would occasionally have was some fight outside. She was actually nervous what she would do if she were to escape. The sound of footsteps and voices outside drew her attention to the 

door, and she turned to see three of the Joker's thugs walk in. One she recognized from downstairs earlier and the other two she didn't know.

They talked as though she wasn't there.

One let out a whistle "Sheesh, you were right Max" He eyed her up and down

"I told you so." Max responded staring at her and making her feel the need to cross her arms protectively around herself.

"I'm tellin' you guys this is a bad idea, you're going to get yourselves killed." The one behind the other two spoke up.

"No we're not cause the Boss ain't never gonna find out." Max looked at her "isn't that right?"

The guy behind him shook his head and simply left heading down the stairs.

The two men advanced on her and she played dumb "Find out about what?" She asked, but already knew

"So, have you gotten any food yet?" Max asked her

Kayla was confused "No"

"If you want some, you've got to give us something in return, and I wouldn't count on the Boss feeding you too much." He smirked

"I'm not hungry." She said simply

Max looked at the other and he turned and shut the door, both advanced on her grabbing her arms and legs so strongly she didn't get to fight them off.

They pushed her down on the bed and she thrashed madly screaming for them to let her go, they only laughed and she could smell alcohol and cigarettes on their breath.

"Come on" Max said holding her wrists down as the other sat on her legs  
Max forced his lips onto hers and she bit his lower lips, her high school gym teacher's word popping into her head '_Tear and spit, tear and spit'_ Kayla did just that

"Goddamn bitch!" Max shouted and she received several punches to the face in return, thrashing more and freeing her legs to kick until something hard came down over her head and she blacked out.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

The Joker walked up to Kayla's apartment door and took her keys out of his pocket. She was in one of the nicer neighborhoods in Gotham and by the looks of the apartment building it was a well kept one for middle class citizens. In order to get inside he had to don an old baseball cap he had found in the car and hid the rest of his face behind a newspaper, but he brought his gun and a knife just in case anyone wanted to cause trouble.

Opening the door, he looked around, surprised at how spacious it was. It was slightly messy, but not dirty he noted, looking at the white kitchen floor. Wandering around the kitchen, he checked the fridge; it was well supplied for one person though she had an unusual amount of orange juice, 2 and a half large containers. The freezer was also well supplied, "Banana popsicles" he read out loud laughing. He closed the door and on the wall the phone caught his eye. There were two old messages and so he pressed play.

"Kayla? Kayla are you there?!" Came a woman's voice who sounded, well… very drunk or very stupid.

"It's me baby" she sobbed "please pick up the phone" more sobs "I'm sorry you hate me…please call back…I miss you" she half shouted half sobbed drunkenly. "I need money…please baby…I got fired from my job and my landlady gave me ugh some time." She slurred the end of the sentence "I-I'm sorr-"

The message cut off abruptly and the Joker stayed very still, staring at the phone.

"_Hmmm, so her mother's an alkie…and apparently they don't talk much."_

He played the next message.

"Hey Kayla, it's me." The Joker cringed at the self absorbed pitch her voice rang with, he rubbed his ear slightly and turned down the volume on the speaker.

" Guess what?! I got the job working for Dr. Keyser! He says that I'm by far the best choice from the others who applied fresh out of school and he even wants me to work alongside him with some of his personal patients. Anyway you have to call me soon we need to catch up! See ya!"

Moving on to her bedroom, he saw though her bed had been made somewhat quickly and there were a few things lying on the wood floor, the room was very clean like the rest of the house.

"_This is where she would keep the things she wouldn't want me to find."_ He thought to himself and began by looking under her bed.

He pulled out what he was sure was a gun case, trying to picture the little thing holding one.

He flipped it open and turned it over in the case "Hmmm, chrome plated Glock 17" He said to himself. It was a nice gun, and was a very similar style to his own but unlike hers, his was fully automatic and illegal.

Moving over to her closet, he pulled open the bifold doors to reveal her somewhat organized closet. Her clothes were separated by work, casual, or dress. Though by the looks of it she didn't dress up much.

Pulling out a duffle bag he saw on the top shelf, he jumped slightly when a shoebox, caught on the strap, fell out and sending some of the top papers it contained flying.

The Joker smirked to himself "_How typical, she keeps her problems in a shoebox in her closet."_ Picking up the stray papers and box he went over and sat on her bed and began searching through the papers and contents of the box.

He was rather disappointed to find that most of it was old school work, from high school classes. AP US History and AP US Government were the only two she kept and he cringed when he saw 'A' after 'A'. After about 30 or 40 pages of that he began seeing printed off emails from, apparently from her old psychiatrist. He went to the first one, reading intently.

"TO: 

FROM: 

Dear Mr. Austen,

I know this has been a hard experience for you, but I promised you I would send my reasons for asking for a formal diagnosis of Antisocial Personality Disorder for your daughter Kayla; which, as I told you, is considered a form of sociopathy.

The criteria that you daughter failed to meet have been bolded, and the minimum for diagnosis is three.

Failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviors as indicated by repeatedly performing acts that are grounds for arrest;

**Deceitfulness, as indicated by repeatedly lying, use of aliases, or conning others for personal profit or pleasure; **

Impulsivity or failure to plan ahead;

Irritability and aggressiveness, as indicated by repeated physical fights or assaults;

**Reckless disregard for safety of self or others; **

Consistent irresponsibility, as indicated by repeated failure to sustain consistent work behavior or honor financial obligations;

**Lack of remorse, as indicated by being indifferent to or rationalizing having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another. **

Also I have included a list of common symptoms of those with APD, which your daughter meets more of.

**Persistent lying**

Recurring difficulties with the law

Tendency to violate the rights and boundaries of others

Substance abuse

Aggressive, often violent behavior; prone to getting involved in fights

**A persistent agitated or depressed feeling **

Inability to tolerate boredom

**Disregard for the safety of self or others **

A childhood diagnosis of conduct disorders - this is not a symptom but "a history of"

**Lack of remorse, related to hurting others **

**Superficial**** charm **

Impulsiveness

A sense of extreme entitlement

**Inability to make or keep friends **

Recklessness, impulsivity

People with a diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder often experience difficulties with authority figures.

Please let this email convince you to allow me to attempt to formally diagnose your daughter's possible disorder through sessions with her family, friends, and close acquaintances, as outside testimony is a necessity. Also keep in mind my reasons for seeking a formal diagnosis run deeper than charts and lists of symptoms you daughter exhibits, but in my personal experience with her during the sessions she shows up for.

Sincerest Regards,

Dr. Kelly Reiser"

"_Now she makes sense."_ The Joker thought to himself, recalling how she had smiled at him after he gunned down a man right in front of her

He set the email aside and looked at the pictures beneath it. "But then why keep all these?" He asked aloud, referring to 6 or 7 pictures of her with another man, who he assumed was her father being at least 20 years her senior. She must have been in high school when they were taken considering how young she looked. "_Some quality family time together." _ He thought, seeing one was taken in the Grand Canyon and another at a seafood restaurant trying what looked like raw oysters with him.

Funny how she hadn't come off as a daddy's girl to him.

He pocketed one of the photos before resuming packing her bags with a week's worth of tops and bottoms, taking care to pick out all the purples and greens she had first. He smirked as he walked to her dresser and searched for her underwear drawer, finding it and giggling as he picked out a lacy dark purple and nude bra with matching panties, throwing that in with several more pairs and some pjs, he turned to exit her apartment. He stopped as he passed her bathroom and looked through several of the drawers; he found makeup, and _a lot_ of it. Maybe if she was good he would give it to her, carelessly picking up entire carefully sorted containers and throwing them in.

He left her apartment feeling fairly pleased with himself as he walked up to his own building.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Kayla must have only been knocked out for several minutes because when she opened her eyes her flip flops, and jeans were off of her and her hands were tied; and Max was cleaning his lip while the other man stepped out of his jeans.

Kayla was unable to stop herself from letting out a scream as she clumsily lunged off the bed and brought her bound hands around Max's throat, pulling as hard as she could.

Hearing another yell she did not recognize as she continued to yank the rope tied around her hands into her potential rapist's throat, not bothering to wonder where the other guy was as all she could see was the back of Max's head. Kayla let out another involuntary scream as she continued to pull the rope between her hands tighter around the man's neck as he clawed at his throat and began to wheeze, even after he slipped into unconsciousness she pulled unrelentingly. Her vision began to spin as she felt herself loose all control of her rage and sense of time when she thought him on top of her, the thought of him _raping _her.

Finally she felt a hand on her shoulder and only then realized her eyes were closed, letting him drop to the floor rather abruptly; she let out a sigh before jumping at the appearance of the Joker. He had slit the other man's throat and carelessly shoved him to floor with a disgusted look, advancing on her.

Kayla looked at the man lying next to her on the ground, the realization that she must have killed him sinking in; but, she didn't feel…bad or guilty… about doing it. Just shocked.

The Joker was eyeing her in amusement.

"How long did I-"

He cut her off, knowing her question "Oh I watched you for a good 4 minutes or so. You seemed just so…determined to make sure he was nice and dead all right." He said with an almost proud tone.

"You just stood there?" Kayla questioned dumbly

"Well what were you expecting, me to heroically pry you off that piece of garbage, no no no." He said with a playful smile before growing serious "and I just got you out of what looked to turn into a rather, ahhh…sticky situation. You couldn't have taken them both, and you know it." He mock scolded her, giggling at his own dirty little joke.

She noticed his eyes travel downward on her and she suddenly realized she was not wearing any pants and awkwardly backed up onto the bed, drawing her knees up to her chest.

He walked toward her, drawing out a knife which she immediately responded to by kicking at him. He caught her foot easily and pinned down her legs "Hey hey hey" He whispered quickly, tongue darting out to wet his lips as he attempted to stop her struggling.

He brought the knife up in front of her face and, to her surprise, cut the bonds on her hands. Looking at her face she realized she must have blood surrounding her mouth from the bite she had taken out of Max's lip.

"Open up" He said motioning to her mouth and she complied, suddenly feeling dirty and disgusted with herself.

He looked at her most likely blood stained teeth and bent down to turn the man's face upward before smirking back at her.

"You put up a hell of a fight." With that he got up and strode out the door, leaving her rather confused and sickened at the taste of copper in her mouth. She didn't swallow as she quickly put her pants back on though she knew she probably already had and couldn't remember.

He walked back in 30 seconds later with a glass of water which he handed to her; Kayla gulped some of it in and swished it around in her mouth before walking over to the window and spitting the bloody water out, she repeated this several times but it never seemed to be enough.

The Joker came up behind her and grabbed the glass over her shoulder walking out and locking the door behind him without another word.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

The Joker shut the door and wandered slowly to his room at the other end of the hall. Maybe a few days alone would help settle her down. He had to admit, he was enraged at the fact that two of his men had gone and attempted to rape her without his permission, and he rather enjoyed watching her strangle the one of them.

"_Few days without food and water will do her good."_ He thought, enjoying the challenge of having to work a little to get someone to beg him for mercy.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Kayla was alone, again. It was dark now but she was unable to sleep, she had to go to the bathroom like mad, was hungry, and there were two dead bodies stuck in her room with her (one of which had bled all over the floor thanks to the Joker). Not that they really bothered her, they weren't little girls in white nightgowns or anything that would scare her, but they just added to her discomfort.

She tried not to think about the fact she had killed one of them, she honestly didn't remember it. She recalled feeling an anger and hatred she had never felt in her life before, it seemed everything in her vision was white, and then she jumped to the Joker. It depressed her she found herself unable to care about the man's life though, even after trying to rape her.

"_Maybe they were right."_ Kayla thought to herself

The hours passed so slowly, her watch, which she glanced at every 15 minutes didn't help. Finally as the sun began to rise she had to resort to emergency measures and pull out the drawer of the nightstand as a makeshift toilet, glancing outside to see if anyone was out in the early morning as she dumped the drawer out the window.

Five days passed, the bodies had begun to reek of rotten flesh and the smell became unbearable. She had considered putting them in her closet when the odor started, but at that point she wasn't sure she could touch them…pretty soon she couldn't even look at them. Finally, Kayla ripped the comforter and top blanket off her bed and covered them with that.

At last, as she lay in the same position on her side she had for almost a day, the door opened to reveal the Joker, smiling at her gleefully with his hands behind his back.


	6. Chapter 6

**Wow, sorry it took so long for me to update! I hope never to go any longer than 2 days between chapters, and I should be able to update every day or every other until school starts.**

**Thanks again for all the reviews and story alerts, constructive criticism is always welcome.**

**DC Comics owns the Joker and everything to do with Batman, I only own Kayla.**

He was sporting a new purple suit and green vest when she saw him this time, his makeup was unchanged but the clothing added to its effect. He made a face at the stench that hit him from his now deceased thugs and barked at two other men standing in the hall to "clean up the mess". They carried the bodies out and down the stairs to she didn't know where.

"Well hello there" He said, though she remained motionless "No smile for me, even after all this time."

She now couldn't hold back a smile, 5 days with no one to talk to was pushing it, even for Kayla.

"I knew you'd warm up to me." He said knowingly and her face fell back at this statement.

"Not yet huh?" He pulled a bag out from behind his back, opening it and revealing a plastic carry out container full of spaghetti and meatballs with some wrapped up breadsticks on top. "How 'bout now?"

Kayla sat up slightly, she could actually feel her mouth watering and hoped that it was just coincidence he had chosen Italian food; it was by far her favorite.

She got up a little too fast for someone with no food or water in their system and stumbled, as he laughed and quickly threw out an arm for her to catch onto; walking towards him preparing to take the bag when he pulled it up and towards him, out of her reach.

He smiled at her as she drew a sharp breath in, looking livid.

He clicked his tongue "Not so fast" He wagged a finger at her "we don't allow eating in the bedrooms." He kidded and she found it anything but amusing.

He turned on his heel and headed down the stairs, as Kayla followed slowly; still unsure and she felt very lightheaded. When they reached the bottom he turned, taking her through a door she had seen when they first entered, revealing it to be a fairly large room with their makeshift kitchen and living room. One side of the room had a kitchen table, fridge, microwave, several cabinets and drawers, sink, and some counter space. Another side had a couch and an older looking 20 inch tv on a small stand. The room had a few windows and from what she could tell it was probably built for storage since there were a couple pipes running from the ceiling to the floor.

The Joker set the pasta down and walked over to a drawer, pulling out a fork, before going to the fridge and getting her a bottle of water. He set them next to the food and sat down in the next closest chair, looking from her to the food as his tongue wet his lower lip habitually.

Kayla tried not to rush to the table or tear the lid off the pasta, but had a feeling she did. She closed her eyes as she tasted the spaghetti, it was still warm.

After the first few, rather large bites, she glanced at him; he was staring at her with a smile, and it was almost enough to make her feel like she had given in for eating food he had gotten.

"_Almost"_ She thought, savoring another bite of spaghetti "_I wonder if he picked this on purpose because of how messy it is to eat._"

Easily cleaning the plate, which was very unlike her as she was normally a small but frequent eater, she turned her attention back to him; the silence seemed deafening.

"So, um, why are you keeping me here?" Kayla asked quietly, more to the breadsticks she was currently unwrapping than him.

"Well isn't it obvious?"

"No"

"You" He pointed at her dramatically "…you work for that saint of a man Harvey Dent, and that makes you my new friend."

She wondered why he brought her in the first place, before he learned that, but figured it was a moot point by now and didn't want to press her luck at squeezing more conversation out of him.

Kayla took a bite of the breadstick, repeating what he said in her head "_Work!"_ She thought suddenly "_At least someone will notice I'm missing."_

"Yeah and I haven't shown at work two days" She recalled her schedule "so it's pretty unlikely I work there anymore." Kayla challenged

"Here" He pulled a cell phone out a pocket on the inside of his you "Now you just call aannnd ah, tell them you have …food poisoning or umm herpes or something. Improvise."

"What? No, I can't believe you're going to ask me to call in sick while you're holding me hos-"

"When did I say I was asking?" He said in a deadly serious voice, and Kayla gave him a rather blank stare and he leaned back in his chair, thoughtfully looking upwards before pulling a gun out from the back of his pants.

She picked up the phone, desperate for a way to avoid this. "They're going to ask for a doctor's excuse." She said lamely

"Covered" He pulled out a slip of paper, which she could only guess was a doctor's note and waved it around.

Seeing no way out she picked up the phone and dialed her work number, punching in the extension of her supervisor while the Joker pointed the gun at her.

"Terry?" She asked unsurely

"Kayla? Where have you been? You were supposed to be here yesterday and you weren't here-"Kayla cut him off

"I know I'm so sorry." She apologized and felt her voice strain, which actually made her sound convincing "I got the worst case of food poisoning a few days ago and I can't seem to get rid of it. But I think I'm starting to feel better and should be able to come in on…Monday" She finished looking at the Joker for approval and instead saw what looked to her like the Grinch with that big smile.

"Well I'm sorry to hear that Kayla, but you waited a little late to call, I could have you fired you know."

"I know, and all I can say is I'm sorry. I felt so terrible Terry I was sleeping most of the time." Kayla lied, wishing she knew what it was like to have food poisoning or hoping he didn't.

"Well alright," He gave in "But this is going down permanently, one more no show and you're done." He threatened "And I'll need to see a doctor's excuse too."

"Okay no problem, thank you so much Terry." She said, still nervously eyeing the gun as the Joker broke into silent laughter, waving the gun around madly.

"Alright, I'll see you on Monday Kayla."

"Bye Terry" She finished before closing the phone as the Jokers laughter became audible and he put the gun away.

He clapped his hands wildly in her face "Bravo bravo" He stopped and leaned back a little in his chair, stretching his legs and making himself comfortable. "With that talent you should have been an actress."

Kayla scoffed slightly before turning her attention back to her half eaten breadstick, beginning to wonder how he got the food. She tried to imagine him just walking in and ordering it. _"That'd be a sight_" She thought to herself, before turning her attention back to him.

"Then I wouldn't have ever gotten the pleasure of being kidnapped by you." She said sarcastically, surprised at her own boldness.

"With that look in your eyes in the bank you were practically begging me to" He made air quotes "kidnap you."

"I'm sure that's why I was struggling so much getting into the bus."

"Mmm see, you say that now, but deep down you know it's not completely true." He said in a sly voice

Kayla sensed arguing was pointless so she changed the subject

"Why do you want me to go to work?" She dreaded the answer to this but knew she would have to hear it eventually, so she might as well hear it when he didn't seem keen on beating her or starving her to death.

"Having access to Dent's headquarters I have no doubt you can get a hold of a schedule for his public events for me, am I right?" He asked but it was not a question

"No, I can't get-"

"Don't lie to me. If you don't have it then find the person who does. It won't be hard and you know it."

He looked to get up before turning back to her "And don't get any ideas about making a run for it, I'll make a building of little innocent people go up in flames if you do."

Kayla weighted the options and hated herself for still considering running, she didn't know them and he would probably just do it anyway for kicks. Somehow, he knew she was thinking this

"And it just might be the building you're in so I wouldn't umm, _blow_ the situation out of proportion."

He got up off the chair and walked towards the door, picking up the remote for the tv as he went. "Well, I've gotta run for a bit sweetheart, but why don't you ahh, be a sponge for a while and soak up some news. You've really missed a lot of good stuff." He said with a smile as he turned on the set and tossed the remote on the couch.

With that he left, shutting the door behind him.


	7. Chapter 7

**Thanks again to all my readers, especially reviewers! I do love reviews and appreciate constructive criticism and suggestions.**

**I own nothing but Kayla and the plot of the story :(**

Kayla wandered over to the television set after a few minutes and turned up the volume a little on Gotham Cable News. She was not shocked when after some movie reviews and commercials she saw a repeat of Good Morning Gotham and the top story was about the investigation into the Jokers bank robbery and what the apparent mob connection was. Then the discussion turned to the debate over Batman, was he a priority right now?

They played a clip of the Gotham Tonight interview with Harvey Dent

Kayla watched as Dent was drilled by Mike Engel over Batman

Dent: "You don't just decide one day to put on a mask and fight crime, a dysfunctional society dictates that response; so if you want to get rid of the Batman, then curing what created him is the best way."

Engel: "I understand that but, if you sanction a vigilante to act as a guardian for society as someone who willfully breaks the law, they aren't we in fact sanctioning lawlessness and chaos in the city?"

Dent: "If Batman broke the law to achieve some personal gain you would have a much easier time getting people to agree with you Mike. Batman's actions aren't personal they benefit the city entirely."

Engel: "But how do we know what he's really after if we don't get a chance to ask him?"

Dent: "Let's just say there are other people I'm more interested in getting to know."

The clip ended and Kayla turned off the tv, standing up and throwing the remote into the couch in frustration. Harvey had dominated the interview, but she didn't expect anything less from him from the few times she had met him. He was an extremely intelligent, charismatic, and nice looking man; Kayla would be lying if she said she hadn't developed a slight crush on him when they first met, but what women wouldn't.

She just wish they knew she had been kidnapped; it was aggravating beyond belief to have the knowledge that she was stuck in the worst part of Gotham with a murdering psychopath, and no one was worried about her, no one cared.

"_I probably brought some of that on myself."_ Kayla thought to herself, she was the reason why her friends and mother wouldn't worry when she didn't answer their calls, she hardly ever did.

She wondered what he was doing right now. She let out a small, rather sad laugh "_Even here, I just can't…turn him off." _What would he think of what she had done, killing a man in blind rage, and having next to no remorse for her actions. She was starting to scare herself.

The day went by faster than others, though that was just because she was out of the bedroom she now considered her prison. She searched through the kitchen, finding a little food, but quite a bit of alcohol 

in the fridge. The closest thing to a weapon she could find was a butter knife and she figured she would almost be better off with her fists. It was obvious that this was an all man crew by the disregard for any sort of cleanliness, and out of boredom she cleaned the dishes in the sink, which led to scrubbing the countertop, which led to cleaning out the cupboards and fridge of empty bags and cans. When she finished she stood back, surprised at how well she cleaned when she wanted to; and she never wanted to, but after 5 days of lying around and suddenly being faced with a dirty kitchen…

And after scrubbing the dishes and countertop so thoroughly, all she wanted to do was take a shower and do the same to her skin and hair. Her hair was disgustingly matted and oily, and she knew she probably reeked. She made herself some microwavable soup she found for dinner and settled down on the couch watching some movie reviews and previews, some song in the trailer for Watchmen made her consider the possibility of working alongside the Joker willingly; she had nothing to lose really and it would be the easiest way out.

Kayla pushed the thought to the back of her mind, the Joker didn't have friends or even permanent thugs at any rate, what was she thinking? But the thought still lingered in the back of her head.

It was past 10 when the Joker returned, and she was sprawled out on her stomach on the floor half asleep when she heard him come in followed by several of his thugs.

"Well, I don't remember getting a new rug." He said with mock confusion as he crouched down next to her and she stared at him, he glanced at his thugs who were staring but quickly turned their attention back to each other and the search for food.

"But by the looks of it…." He surveyed her and made an obvious sign of disgust when be bent down closer to her hair and took a deep whiff "you could use a good ummm…vacuuming."

He got up and walked toward the kitchen area, taking a second glance at the sink before the rest of the countertop.

"None of you went all home ec on me overnight, hmmm?" He glanced around at his thugs, shaking their heads and mumbling "no's" before turning back to Kayla

"Well you just keep showing me more and more little talents of yours." His tongue quickly came out to lick his lower lip.

"Come with me." He said yanking painfully upward at her arm before walking out the door, not waiting for her as he moved swiftly up the stairs

Kayla glanced at the entrance as she moved towards the stair, but saw there were several of the Joker's men standing around talking.

She followed him up the stairs to the top floor again, but he took a different turn, pulling a key out of his jacket to open the room that had been on the opposite side of the hallway as her own. He walked in and opened the door for her with a bow and grin and she realized it must be his room.

It was dark and had a rather musty feel to it, and it was larger than hers. There was a window and what looked like an old glass sliding door to a balcony, but both had the shades pulled; a dark forest green comforter was sprawled across the bottom of an unmade queen size bed. Other than that the only furniture was an old dresser and nightstand, and there were two other doors: one she guessed was a closet and the other most likely a small bathroom.

"_Probably one of the former owner's rooms."_ Kayla thought to herself as the Joker walked over to the bed, turning on a small lamp on the nightstand and digging through the drawer in it.

Before she could look around further, if there was anything to see, he roughly shoved some clothes and a towel in her arms and turned her around by the shoulders and pushing her towards the door he opened to reveal a small, grungy looking bathroom.

"You have a half an hour." He said to her bewildered face before shutting the door.

Kayla stood there only moments before going into jumping into cleaning mode, quickly finding the lock on the door and stripping down out of her dirty clothes.

She hopped in the shower finding bottles of soap and shampoo, she hadn't scrubbed at her skin and hair so hard since she had come home from playing a mud volleyball tournament in high school. She smiled at the memory, it had _truly_ been fun. The lack of conditioner she would normally use cut down on the time the shower took, and she hopped out, suddenly curious as to what a mass murdering clown kept in his bathroom cabinet.

She opened it to find normal items such as a razor, shaving crème, a toothbrush and toothpaste, and a bottle of lotion that had turned to runny liquid it hadn't been used in so long, sitting next to not so normal items such as white, black, and red greasepaint. Without hesitation or caring about the possible consequences, she grabbed his razor, washed it off, and furiously shaved her still wet underarms and (she checked her watch) legs; she laughed at how she normally didn't bother that often at her own home, but here kidnapped she was thrilled at the opportunity. She quickly rinsed off herself and the blade and dried it "_He won't kill me for using his razor."_ She thought to herself as she put it back in the exact same position.

Kayla checked her watch again, after she dried off before grabbing the toothpaste and bottle of lotion, shaking it, and hastily applying it after she brushed her teeth with her finger. She picked up the clothes, realizing they were her pajamas "_These are my,__** my **__pajamas."_ Kayla thought with horror at the metal picture of him going through her apartment. She despised people going through her things, despised it!

She took the bra and underwear…lacy purple bra and underwear…that he had undoubtedly picked out and put them on. Throwing the plain white beater tank top over it, wishing it wasn't so see through, and putting her green and blue striped pajama pants on. She shook her hair out and parted and combed it with her fingers, gathering up her told clothes and towel and opening the door just as it looked like he was walking over to knock.

He gave her a smile, which came off rather eerie as always, and she felt suddenly self conscious clutching her clothes to her chest and handing him the towel which he simply threw into a corner of some other most likely dirty laundry.

She noticed he had shed his long purple jacket, untucked his shirt and unbuttoned its top button, and loosened his tie.

It was awkward for her as there seemed nothing to say, but not for him of course, she had a feeling he was enjoying making her uncomfortable.

"Just when I thought you'd gotten lost in there….here." He said grabbing the pile of clothes she had been clutching and throwing them in the corner as well, giving her nothing to do with her hands but cross her arms and stare at his feet.

"You know" He said thoughtfully, licking his lips "when I saw your apartment it really made me think 'this place could use a woman's touch'." He said as he circled her and she matched his steps to keep across from him.

He walked over to his nightstand again and picked up a piece of paper "but you're not just any Mary Jane off the street are you?"

He read from the paper "Dear Mr. Austen, I know this has been a hard experience for you, but I promised you I would send my reasons for asking for a formal diagnosis…" Kayla felt her mouth go dry and stomach drop at the knowledge she know knew he possessed "… of Antisocial Personality Disorder for your daughter Kayla, yada yada yada, which is considered a form of sociopathy."

He looked up at her from the paper to see her staring at the window as though she could see through the shade.

The Joker walked towards her "You're really quite the special little thing, you know that right," He said in a almost singsong voice, higher than normal before falling back to a deadly serious tone "step up and admit it…or better yet…embrace it."

"I'm no sociopath." She denied, still unable to look at him

"They think otherwise." He said slyly

"I was never diagnosed." She said, finally meeting eyes with him, growing angrier by the second.

"And why was that hmm?" He leaned his face towards her "I wonder what daddy thought of all this…"

She gave him no answer, only looking away again, she didn't really have one.

"Did he cast you out huh?" He pried, moving his head around to try to meet her eyes.

"Answer me!" He yelled suddenly and grabbed her shoulders painfully.

"He let me stay until I turned 18 then said he didn't want to see me anymore." She said rather fast, startled by him, and he let go of her shoulder as she looked at his once again calm face.

He cocked his head at her "We're two of a kind you know, we're not like them, and we're ahead of the game."

"No, we're nothing alike; I actually have the ability to care about people." She said angrily

"I bet Max wouldn't believe that."

Kayla looked at the floor in thought, she could admit that to some degree they were right in their diagnosis; but she just couldn't bare the thought of him believing they were _anything _alike.

"Alright…" she muttered to the floor and he bent down to hear her "I only care about certain people who are close to me; most people don't really matter much." Kayla said quieted, mumbling the entire last part.

"What was that?" He said as low as she had been talking and she snapped.

"You're right! They're right, okay! I don't care about most people, I can't!" She yelled, eyes red with anger, before turning to walk out the door to her own room, but he swiftly caught her arm and threw her stumbling back into the middle of his room.

Kayla looked about ready to kill him, with her damp hair pressed against her face and fists balled. She lunged and literally tried to claw her way through him towards the door several times before he finally caught her and held her arms by her side, she eventually stopped struggling once she calmed herself down a bit, but now her heart raced because of his closeness.

"Now now now, remember you're in good company." He had his arms around her still to keep her from putting up another fight, and though she knew it was to make sure she didn't try anything it made her feel…strange. She tried to take deep breathes while he held her to keep from hyperventilating in the wake of her anger, miserably failed escape attempts from the room, and now the disturbingly calm rise and fall of the Joker's chest against her shoulder.

Kayla mentally whipped herself for her own stupidity at the bank, why did she have to suddenly come out and make it so obvious what she _had_ thought of him right there. "_I didn't know who he was at first."_ She reasoned with herself, but knew the minute he took the mask off she should have thrown her own grenade at him, not stare at him with some schoolgirl awe like she had probably done.

The Joker held her…no…bound her since her arms were forced down at her sides, for several more moments before letting her go.

"So as much as I'd like to carry on this ah, feisty little conversation we've got going, I'm sorry to say we'll have to pick it up tomorrow sometime." He told her as he walked towards his bed and began taking his shoes off "I've got a busy day ahead of me and it's gonna be filled with explosions and gunshots and screaming…" He said trailed off dreamily, looking up at her from his shoes "…and chaos." He had a wild expression on his face and though it should be and was to Kayla some extent frightening, she still couldn't shake a feeling of amazement.

He sat down on the bed with a plop and patted the empty space next to him with a grin.

All the small little feelings of amazement turned at once into disgust. "_How could you not see this coming?"_ Kayla asked herself "_The shower, the purple bra and panties."_

"Do you actually expect me to even sit on the same bed as you?" She regretted the harsh words immediately, but was surprised when he didn't answer with a slap to her face.

"It's your choice." He said with an air of indifference and she turned to leave the room as fast as possible but stopped when he spoke again "But just so you know, Max had a few friends, and let's just say they haven't exactly welcomed you with arms wide open. I've been keeping them muzzled, but… you ahhh never know when I might decide to let them off the leash"

"So you're giving me the choice of either being raped and killed by them, or raped and probably killed by you? I appreciate it." She said sarcastically, slightly embolden by his non physical response to her previous comment.

"You think I would act in the same way as those mindless zombies downstairs?" He asked, obviously insulted and shook his head like a wet dog "Rape you…soon if I want you I won't have to." He said with a mischievous smirk.

She snorted and rolled her eyes at his arrogant comment but said nothing; his ego was obviously through the roof.

"But I suppose I could throw you a pretty little thing like you to the wolves out there…" He motioned towards the window "if you wanted me to." He grinned wildly "I'd get a good laugh watching you at least."

She thought it over, it was a bad part of Gotham and she knew it, there were all sorts of people you didn't want to meet in dark alleys at night living in the apartments nearby. But perhaps she could make it, take her chances until she got to a safer area.

"But I know you don't really want to be out there with, well, what I call freaks…there quite the dodgy dangerous little pack." He taunted

"Well excuse me if I don't faint" She said snapped, but gave in and lay down on the bed next to him as he took his tie off.

"I'm glad you're seeing it my way, Kay…la" He said her name slowly, knowing he was bothering her talking "Kay la la la la la" He let out a silent giggle before turning on his side towards her and going straight to sleep.

Kayla doubted he actually expected her to sleep, she was as far on her side of the bed as she could get; but with him facing her, even asleep…. She couldn't help but stare at him most of the night, afraid to move much for fear of waking him, she didn't know why she was staring; curiosity (watching a psycho who dressed as a clown blowing things up…sleep), a lot of it was fear (her mind wandered to horror movies, imagining him suddenly transforming into something awful and stabbing her dozens of times).

She shuddered slightly, but eventually around 3:30 in the morning, the last she looked at her watch, she fell asleep out of the mental exhaustion the end of the day had brought on.


	8. Chapter 8

**Okay, hopefully I'll be able to get back to updating every night at least until school. Thank you for the reviews and favorites!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but Kayla ******

The Joker awoke somewhat later than he normally did the next morning to a strange sight, someone next to him. He knew she had probably been up quite late, unable to fall asleep, but evidently she had finally succumb to exhaustion and curled up on her side facing him; but as far away from her captor as possible.

He propped himself up on his elbow and looked at her, amazed that she could actually look peaceful at times, since most of the time when he saw her she was burning with anger or next to lifeless in depression. It was impossible to deny she was beautiful, and he had to fight the urge from brushing some of her hair out of her face, but it didn't take much. Rising slowly from the bed, not knowing why he was taking care not to wake her, he headed for the shower.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Kayla woke to the sound of the shower in the bathroom being turned on. She sat up and took a moment to recall the past nights events before falling back onto the pillow with a small groan.

"_He knows about the sociopath thing."_ She recalled and the thought of simply giving in to him crept from the back of her mind again, and she once again pushed it out. She tried to breathe through the pillow and instead was given the pleasant odor of a bed set that probably hadn't been washed in months.

She threw herself off the bed in disgust and looked about the room, opening the shades to let a little light in. She almost made the bed out of habit, but stopped herself.

The room was how she remembered it last night, but now she could see the pile of clothes in the corner and another pile of recent newspapers in the corner near his bed. The shower was still running so she crept over to his dresser and began opening the drawers, the first two were empty, there was one with white undershirts carelessly tossed in. Another with a wild assortment of socks, she had no idea how he would find matching pairs, if he cared that is. The bottom, well, at least if she died she could die knowing that she had found the mass murdering Joker's boxer drawer. It was in disarray like his shirts.

"_Amazing how a man so vastly different from anyone else can have the same habits as the rest of the male population."_

She walked to his closet and found several different suit jackets, matching pants, and shirts, along with several variations of the same outfit, his geometrically themed clown one. The other clothes looked normal enough, but there was just something off about them and she supposed it was simply the knowledge that they were his.

The shower shut off suddenly and Kayla quietly shut the closet door and sat back down on the bed.

It was still a good 10 minutes before he came out but she never moved, and when he finally appeared he looked the same as last night, but with wet hair and fresh makeup.

"Good morning princess" He said and looked at her, expecting an answer

"What's good about it?" She muttered, not meeting his gaze.

She obviously picked the wrong response, as his demeanor changed from cheerful to furious in the seconds it took for his hand to pin her down by the throat.

"Oh, I can think of plenty of things that are good about it for you, do you really think that you can keep, ah, mouthing off to me? That I won't just kill you as easy as I killed countless others when I get too annoyed with you huh?"

He continued to hold her legs down with the weight of his body and was attempting to pin down her arms with the arm that wasn't cutting off her oxygen supply. Kayla clawed at his grip and he released her when she gave a good aimed punch to his face. Kayla grabbed her throat and gasped for breath as he moved towards the door.

"I don't want to have this talk again." He said grabbing his purple suit coat "I'll uhh, be back in time for dinner dear." He said rather bitterly before shutting the door rather loudly adn locking her in the room.

He was true to his word, as he entered the room close to 9 hours later carrying a change of clothes for her. By this point, Kayla was prepared to be nice solely for the purpose of having a conversation with someone without it ending with her getting a bruise someplace.

She smiled at him when he walked it, and raised an eyebrow at her, but returned it nonetheless.

"So," Kayla stared "Did your day go well?" She questioned

"If by well, you mean all the explosives went off and dozens of people suffered, then yes it went very well." He said handing her the clothes and disappearing into the bathroom, which she took as a hint to change. There was a lacy black tank top that she would have never worn alone (she quickly adjusted the straps to make it cover up a little more) and her pair of washed out blue jeans. He came out rather quickly, but she had changed fast and he opened the door wide, motioning her out.

"What did you do?" She asked in a accusing tone as she got up off the bed and walked out the door

"Oh you know, blow up a few ambulances, intimidate a couple mob bosses." He said casually following her motioning her down the stairs

Kayla wheeled around on him after a few steps down "Why?" She was struggling to understand his logic, even if she didn't want to agree with it.

He looked at her, clearly amused, and licked his lips "Practice makes perfect, who can argue with that. And they're still not taking me seriously you know."

"Who's not?"

"The mob, the GPD, the Batman."

She shook her head and continued down the stairs until she reached the bottom floor, and he guided her by the shoulders to the makeshift kitchen.

Kayla watched as he opened several cupboards, it looked as though he didn't go through them much.

"Hmmm" He said giving several microwavable bowls of soup in his hand a strange look "Chunky or not chunky?" He asked her

"Ugh, chunky" She answered, thinking of how odd he was behaving, he hadn't hit or threatened her yet or anything.

She thought about questioning how nice he was being, but decided against it not wanting to cause him to stop. She settled for the more subtle question "So why are you feeding me all of a sudden-not that I'm complaining." She quickly added

"Well I can't have you go into work tomorrow looking like a walking skeleton" He said, throwing two bowls in and punching the minutes into the microwave but pausing momentarily "…then again you are getting over food poisoning."

She groaned inwardly about the reminder of work the next day, and the thought of more days without food.

But he started the microwave and brought her a glass of orange juice, her favorite drink, which suddenly reminded her of her cat Mop, who she normally gave a little dish to and was probably in dire need of food and water.

The Joker came over and sat next to her "Now I'll try not to sound like a broken record over here, but remember" He made an exploding motion and sound with his hands and mouth "practice makes perfect and I'm getting better."

"I'll need to go to my apartment to get work cl-" He cut her off

"It won't matter it'll be your last day."

Kayla's face fell as she considered the possible meanings behind that statement

"So when I've outlived my usefulness you'll just…off me huh?" She said, trying to hid the fear in her voice.

He stuck his tongue into the inside of his cheek and looked up in thought "Mmmm, I have a feeling you may have other uses, possibly." He looked down at her as he got up to get the bowls "Besides, I like to play with my food before I eat it."

He got out a couple of spoons and set one down next to her with her soup, as he open his but did not eat out of it. Kayla merely stirred hers and blew on it.

"What other uses?" She inquired in a low voice, still unsure of how much she could ask while he was in this apparent good mood.

"I told you, we're two of a kind."

"And I told you we're not" She retorted, still staring at her soup

"Oh yeah that's right, you can actually care about people…..what about this fellow huh?"

Kayla looked up and from an inside pocket in his jacket he pulled out an old photo, holding it up in front of her face.

She froze.


	9. Chapter 9

**Thank you again for the reviews, I would have updated earlier today but decided to change the tone of this chapter after watching the movie The Tenth Circle. Yeah, it's a Lifetime one and adapted from a book that I'm sure people will say is better, but I actually enjoyed it!**

**I own nothing but Kayla.**

The Joker watched as her eyes visibly glazed over as he waved the photo of her and some middle aged man tauntingly in her face.

"Is this your Dad hmm…he the Padre?" He questioned as he slide the photo over towards her, she only put her arms under the table and stared at it.

"Yeah he is" She answered simply and quietly, but there was something about the way she pulled her gaze from the photo that made him think she was lying; and she wasn't blinking.

"You're lying" He stated

"No I'm not" She defended quickly and the look on her face when she knew she had spoken to fast gave her away. "He was something like a father to me."

"Ahhh, so did he take you in after Daddy kicked you out? Who was he?"

She looked at him for a moment, as if deciding if she could somehow avoid answering the question but gave up. "He was a teacher of mine alright, a close one."

"Did he know about you little…probl-" He said snidely but she cut him off

"No, he never knew" She said definitively, looking him in the eye "I knew him before that, and during and after it and he never found out. "I had him as a teacher in 9th grade and again in 10th and 11th, but he…a few days after I'd gotten my driver's license I was in a bad wreck late at night on some country road."

He could tell she was no longer talking to him, more reminiscing with herself as her gaze shifted to the air to the left of her. "The man who hit me was drunk and there was no one else nearby, he tried to take me with him in his car and um" The Joker watched with delight as her face contorted with the painful recollection "rape me. My teacher was driving nearby and stopped him." Her head suddenly snapped back to face him as she pulled herself out of the memory "He was like my father after that."

The Joker had known better than to think he was just some outstanding public servant, he pulled the picture back towards him and looked at it.

"Well wasn't that heroic of him, saving little ol' you. Still you're what, 22, 23?" He asked not waiting for an answer "Did it become normal for students to go to the Grand Canyon with their teachers in the few years separating us?" He asked sarcastically

"They were school trips he headed." She answered simply

"Yeah, and about that Baseball game picture I saw."

"We just went together." She shrugged, falling back into the same daze she had when he first brought him up.

"You just went." He repeated "So what happened to make you keep him stuck in a shoebox huh?"

"He left" She answered quietly and began cutting up noodles in her soup with the side of the bowl and her spoon.

He could tell she was dying to get off the subject and was angered by her curt response, he stood up and forcefully knocked the bowl and spoon onto the floor.

"What made him leave?" He said with more power behind his voice as he grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him.

"Nothing, he took a job in his hometown where he could be closer to his family, he had commuted to work." She answered quickly, having been startled by his sudden outburst.

"We're there rumors…such a _close_ ahhh…relationship…no doubt brought on a bit of gossip." He said, gloved hands still digging into her jaw bone.

"He had a wife and kids." He said in a disgusted tone

He giggled slightly at her "So did Clinton, it doesn't mean a thing." He retorted quickly

"He wasn't that kind of man, there was nothing like that between us." She said, rage flashing in her eyes along with several withheld tears.

"Did this man have a name?"

"Why would I tell you?" She challenged, but complied when he moved his grasp to her neck and squeezed painfully as he pulled her up off her chair slightly.

"Evan Bentson"

Satisfied, he let her go and sat back in his chair "So he left and you…what?"

"I was going off to college soon, even farther away; and I just…didn't want to keep in touch with him via email or phone…it would _never_ be the same." She shook her head sadly, looking away from him "So we lost contact, but I still couldn't stand the thought of him being disappointed in me, so I didn't let anything get in the way of my completing college; I suppose I would have anyway though."

She looked back at him, sickened when she saw the amused look he had on his face which made her all the more hilarious "You smug bastard, you have no idea…" She pressed her lips firmly together, fighting back tears and shaking with rage "He was-" She stopped again shaking her head, letting the tears fall but refusing to let herself sob as she desperately wanted to.

The Joker was unable to contain his fanatic laughter, but she tried to pay no mind and gazed off at nothing while focusing her attention on keeping herself under control as he rocked back and forth in his chair in his delight.

Still laughing he picked her up bridal style, and she flinched at his touch but did not resist, and began to carry her up the stairs; still giggling the whole way.


	10. Chapter 10

**Alrighty, I apologize for the long delay, but it was Wallmarts fault! Suddenly they go from scheduling me once or twice a week to 35 hours! What! It's the last week of summer for cryin' out loud!**

**Okay sorry about that, enough of my complaining and the next chapter…this one took me a while even though it's not long, I would really appreciate feedback on how you liked it. There is another movie character who slightly reminds me of the Joker and I used a line very similar to theirs in here, virtual cookie if you guess who it is.**

**Enjoy…**

Kayla couldn't believe her own actions. She was letting the Joker in her head and that, she was sure, would led to her to nothing but trouble in the end. Still she was positive that he would have tortured her or starved her for access to her mental weak spots anyway, so she probably saved herself some physical aches in the end.

She was confused by his contradictory actions of laughing at her, probably at what he considered her patheticness, all the while carrying her to his room in a manner that she would almost have considered comforting if it had been anyone but him.

But it was him, and she actually would have accepted the comfort, as crazy as it sounds. She made clear by finally resting her head on his shoulder on the final flight of steps; this caused him to momentarily pause his giggles and look at her though she did not look back, before continuing them in a lower almost sinister tone.

He lay her down on his bed and apparently decided to leave her to her thoughts, probably while he went down and reheated his soup which had long since grown cold.

Kayla used the time alone to get herself together and try to think straight. She had never told anyone how much her old teacher had affected her until now, and it was sad that she knew the last thing she would receive was advice or understanding; even worse was her confusing over why she had said anything in the first place, she could have made something else up.

She shook her head and restlessly got up off the bed, pacing the room a bit while chewing her lip. She eventually decided to go out onto the balcony for some much needed fresh air.

Kayla opened the old sliding door and stepped out onto the small, iron weaved perch; she rested her hands and forearms against the railing.

There was a surreal stillness in the air, occasionally disturbed by a slight breeze, and it was unnaturally quiet for the big city. For Gotham, Kayla would almost call it beautiful; there were no clouds and she could clearly see the gibbous moon and surrounding stars. But the perceived calm was only superficial, she sadly noted, hearing police sirens in the distance and an argument through the open window of an apartment across the street.

Kayla was startled but did not jump when she saw two purple gloved hands grip the rail on either side of her, effectively trapping her in. She made a move to turn around but stopped.

"Don't turn around." He instructed her "You asked me before…why I do what I do…I'll tell you…human beings are…by nature selfish creatures. And everybody knows it, no matter how hard some people like the Bat and the goody goody new DA try to deny it… and in their cases even fight it. Sure they all feel the need to cover up the selfishness with this little elaborate, but skin-deep lie so they can feel just a bit better about themselves but…... when push comes to shove…" He trailed off, clicking his tongue and leaving the rest to her imagination.

Kayla turned her head to look at him, but he was staring out, eyes shifting back and forth in thought.

"Look" He motioned for her to look back out with his head "There are 10 million people in this city, its gotta have the 4th largest single economy in the world…and nobody knows each other…nobody cares.

Kayla listened in silence, feeling as though she were being hypnotized because the words were making sense and she knew they shouldn't be.

"No one notices anything outside of their own little worlds, and they try to control everything in them." He shook his head

"And your plan is to…what?" She questioned "Make them all see the foolishness of hiding who they really are?"

"Well first off…" He paused and licked his lips out of habit "the only plan I have, is not to have one. Plans, well, you're better off without one because nothing can go wrong. And yes, I try to make them see how pathetic their elaborate little scheme, and their obsessive controlling nature, really is. If you're like me and see the strings that control the system, all you have to know which ones to cut." He said knowingly

Kayla couldn't believe she was still listening to this, but it was making sense, she didn't know how.

"Why bother?" She turned now to face him, slightly unnerved by his closeness, still aware of the his hands gripping the rail on either side of her and the fact that a low metal bar was the only thing that separated her from a 7 story fall; but she remained calm and collected "What your trying to do…" She trialed off, shaking her head and looked at him "They'll never change." After saying this she was slightly more apprehensive, she didn't want to make him angry.

"Maybe not in your lifetime, or mine, or ever; but…" An evil smile spread across his face and his voice grew playful and childish "I'm just having too much fun trying."

They stared at each other for several long moments; Kayla realized she was smiling slightly as she held his gaze for the longest she had since he'd kidnapped her. His sardonic grin gently faded into a more contempt look of amusement with her, and she was sure his face was getting slightly closer.

He swiftly pulled himself closer to her with the rail he was holding and pressed his lips to hers, her shock lasted a moment before she briefly returned the kiss, but it was over before it began and she mentally chastised herself for being disappointed it was over. She should have slapped, no, outright punched him; not kiss him back.

Without another word, probably just taking his time absorbing her look of shock, he turned and went inside. She stayed out there several more minutes as she heard him walk around before lay on the bed. Praying he would be asleep, or at least pretend, she went inside and shut the door as quietly as she could. Apparently he could go to sleep at the flip of a switch; she noticed in the dim moonlight that he had actually undressed down to his under shirt, but thankfully left on his purple pinstripe pants.

Angry with him, but more herself, she picked up her PJ's from the floor where she had set them earlier and walked into the bathroom to change. When Kayla came back out to lie down she knew he had moved slightly closer to the middle of the bed, probably just to make her uncomfortable and get a laugh out of it, she just knew it. She simply shook her head and mouthed nonsensical curses to herself as she meticulously lay down a silently as possible without disturbing him. It took her about 5 minutes and she couldn't tell if she imagined the little shakes of laughter the bed gave every once and a while as she tried to climb in. Kayla again positioned herself as far away from him a possible and faced the wall this time beginning her futile attempts to sleep; she dread the day to come.

**Please review! Anonymous reviews now allowed!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Okay, here is chapter 11, hopefully I'll get one more up before school.**

**I would like to thank my reviewers for the last chapter ****Laurenmlbc, MobMotherScitah, gerardlover123, and Sergeant O'Reilly!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but Kayla**

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

Kayla cringed as a bright light penetrated her clamed shut eyelids and the Joker's sing song voice flooded her ears.

"Rise and shine beautiful, you've got a big day ahead of you today." She heard him say and opened her eyes to see him standing next to the sliding door, having kindly pulled the curtain to it open to blind her with the morning sun. She suddenly remembered what happened last night and it made her childishly want to bury her head in the pillow and pull the sheets over her head.

She lay there several moments before deciding to get up and get it over with, but he was apparently impatient.

"Come on, up up and away, get ready for the day!" He said giddily as he swiftly moved across the room and picked her legs up, shoving them roughly over the side of the bed.

At his touch Kayla immediately perked up, jerking her legs away from him as he shoved them.

"Alright, I'm going." She said gruffly as she got up and looked at the clock. "_6:45, that leaves me an hour and 15 minutes away from hell on earth."_ She inwardly shuddered at the thought of walking into a building pack with her coworkers who had no idea what was going on with her, and not being able to tell any of them.

Kayla walked to the bathroom, lost in her own thoughts as she stepped into the shower; as soon as the water hit her body she realized she had forgotten something vital, a towel and change of clothes.

As if reading her mind she heard a knock on the door and the creak of its opening. "_How could I not have locked it."_ She thought as she pressed her forehead into the side of the shower.

"I thought these would come in handy, but feel free to go without them if you chose." She heard him chuckle a little "Oh and I brought you a little present too."

"Okay, ugh…thanks." She mumbled awkwardly as she heard him shut the door; she glanced out to see a set of clothes and a towel laying there next to a plastic bag.

Kayla quickly showered and brushed her teeth with her finger…again, before glancing into the bag and seeing her hoards of makeup tossed in. She wondered how something that already belonged to her could be considered a 'present', but was happy to have it none the less; if there was anything she was feeling nostalgic for it was her own routine in her own bathroom in her own house.

She applied her makeup as she normally would and combed and parted her hair with her fingers, hoping it would fully dry before she went to…work.

Stepping out of the bathroom, she saw his clothes were gone and he wasn't there, but the door was left open so she put her flip flops on and moved out of the room and down the steps. The entrance was again being watched by a small group of the Joker's thugs and she began to suspect there was a 24 hour surveillance of the thing.

Kayla pushed open the door to the kitchen, figuring that's where he would be and had guessed right; only he was not alone.

"…have no room for error, we do this right and we-"

6 sets of eyes, including his own, turned to stared at her as she opened the noisy door.

She immediately sensed she would be in trouble for interrupting a seemingly important conversation, and tried to simply shut the door as quietly as possible, but the Joker walked toward her and yanked the door fully open before grabbing her by the back of the neck and forcing her to walk inside and towards the table. She felt like some circus animal being paraded around with her head pushed forward, forcing her to bend slightly as she walked to the table they were seated at.

"Now as I was saying, we do this right and we get Dent's schedule for…say…2 or 3 months with the way they meticulously plan things; and…" The Joker turned his head to face her "if no one notices, we'll be free to start our own little reign of terror over the entire DA's office." He finished with a smile before removing his hand from the back of her neck with a shove.

He looked wildly around the table "Alright? Got it? Good to go?"

They nodded and mumbled several "got it's"

"Okee dokee, get in the cars and get in place."

They nodded, leaving the two in the room together and Kayla was beginning to surmise that the Joker was going with the whole 'never happened' approach to the kiss. Though really, she doubted he had given it any thought whatsoever.

He looked at her with a smile on his face and licked his lips. "You ready?...Do a good job and I may just have another use for you yet."

"What were you just going to…dispose of me…take out the trash, after I was done doing your dirty work?" Kayla asked, rather annoyed at the feeling she was just a pawn in his huge game of chess.

"Well, yes." He said simply "But now I remember why I brought you here in the first place, you're just going to be so much fun." He walked over to one of the cabinets and pulled out, what she recognized was her gun case.

"_He wouldn't threaten to shoot me with my own gun."_ Kayla thought to herself, but realized he was just twisted enough to do something like that.

"Now either you take self defense a little too seriously…" He said opening the case and pulling out the chrome plated gun "or you have some alter ego as a hitwoman by night."

"I bought it for self defense when I moved to Gotham." Kayla defended "and you can't take it too seriously in this city."

The Joker eyed her watch the gun in his hands and handed it to her, since it wasn't loaded anyway.

The gun felt awkward in her hands, and she could tell he immediately knew she was not experienced with it, at all.

Before he could open his mouth she just came out and admitted it "I've never fired a gun before."

He looked at her like she had an extra head before he burst out laughing.

"I never bothered to take it to a shooting range." She defended through his fit of laughter "Sorry if I don't go robbing banks in my spare time and need to know how to use one."

He managed to get himself under control now and turned to her "It's pretty useless for self defense if you can't even fire it." He stated smartly, watching her irritated expression "It's okay, I bet it'd knock you over anyway." He said, looking her up and down quickly

"It would not." She snapped

"So prove it." He challenged

Kayla just sat there speechless, thinking of some excuse not to but was thankfully spared.

"Woah" he said suddenly looking at the clock on the microwave "We can't have you late on the last day. Maybe we'll continue this later if you're good." He said, taking the gun from her and putting it back

The Joker stood up and grabbed her arm dragging her towards the door and she finally ripped herself from his grip, mumbling something about being able to walk herself.

She was pleasantly surprised when they exited the building and he didn't pull a bag over her face as they stepped into a dark blue SUV with heavily tinted windows. She would have tried to run as it appeared everyone else involved in today's 'job' had already left but there was still a man who she had seem inside talking on his phone on outside the entrance.

Her happiness was momentary as he got into the driver's side and flipped the sun visor down to hide his face, and pulled out a purple bandana from his jacket along with a walkie talkie; she didn't even fight when he put it over her eyes.

She also noted, now that they were in a regular car and not a school bus, that he was a terrible driver; though it was probably just for kicks as he giggled a little when they lurched from their parking stall and a horn blared behind them.

After about 10 to 15 minutes of driving she felt the car pull to a stop and when her blindfold was finally pulled off she saw they were near the top floor of a soon to be demolished public parking garage across the street and a bit of a walk from Dent's Headquarters. She bit her lip nervously.

"Now" The Joker started "don't worry that pretty little head of yours. Just go downstairs, go to work, get Dent's schedule, and come straight back up here to me. There are men surrounding the building if you try to run, don't talk to anymore people than you have to, if you do or we see cop cars headed this way…" He pulled out what she could easily tell was a detonator of some kind "just remember" He dangled the device in front of her face. "You have 20 minutes"

Kayla sat there blankly for a moment, and he dramatically took out a pocket watch and looked at it before eyeing her and she jumped out of the car.

She quickly headed for the exit doing her best not to run, at least until she got in the stairwell. She couldn't believe she was actually doing this; the way she was running around made her feel like she was in some James Bond film or something, and she felt like she had an adrenaline rush and began calming her nerves.

Kayla reached the outside and as she waited to cross the street she took a moment to think to herself, she wasn't really sure _what_ she was nervous about; as long as she did what she was supposed to everything would be fine. "_There is nothing to be nervous about, all I have to do is go in there, print something off, and get out."_

She crossed the street and walked the short distance to the entrance, not to her surprise, when she walked in almost no one greeted her and she could tell she was easily forgotten.

Kayla walked to her desk and sat down, turning on her computer and looking out the window to see a man standing outside talking on his phone, but glancing at her every so often and she was sure he was one of the Joker's men.

As soon as the computer warmed up her supervisor Terry saw her and walked over.

"Kayla, it's good to have you back, we've sure missed you around here; ugh… you must still be feeling kinda bad and that's the reason for the casual clothes right?" He said with a bit of a fake smile

"Hey Terry, yeah I can tell; yeah." Kayla answered a bit sarcastically, but smiled all the same.

"Anyway, I've got a folder of assignments you've missed so I'll go grab them off my desk for you, k?"

"Mmmm yup" Kayla said, staring distractedly at her computer screen searching for the file.

Terry walked away as she found it and opened it up, quickly hitting the print button and hoping there wasn't anyone else at the printer.

She quickly got up and checked the time, relieved she hadn't been inside for more than 5 minutes.

She walked through a few open doors and made her way back to the printer, seeing the last person on earth she would have wanted to see at that moment.

"_Harvey Dent"_ Kayla groaned to herself, she had met him a few times, and even shyly flirted a bit until she realized he was taken; talk about guilt.

She stayed a few steps back, but he must have noticed her staring at the printer which was shooting out pages that he was occasionally putting into a folder he was holding.

"Hello…" He said in a friendly tone, and held his hand up to stop her from reminding him of her name "It'll come to me, I'm so sorry." He looked truly embarrassed "Kayla"

"That's me" She smiled at him and he warmly returned it

"I'm sorry I'm hogging the printer with my 100 and some page printout but the one in my office upstairs ran out of ink. You're not in a hurry are you?" He asked

"No not at all." She said "_If he only knew what I was printing off, or who I was planning to give it to."_

"So I haven't seen you here in quite awhile, where you been?" He asked curiously

"Oh I've been out sick, um, food poisoning." She lied

"Ugh" He made a face "I've had that before, not fun to get over."

"No, it wasn't"

"Say" He began again…and Kayla thought he really seemed to enjoy conversation or was just very good at faking it "You've never met Bruce Wayne have you?" He said picking up some more papers and she wondered how many he could possibly be printing off.

"No" She said with a little look of disbelief, taken aback by the question.

"Would you like to?" Kayla gave him a confused look and he elaborated "He's throwing me a fundraiser, it's not for some time but I know it'll be packed with Gotham's most elite if you know what I mean."

She nodded her head understandingly

"And well, I can invite some of my own people and honestly I'd like as many there as possible, feel free to bring a friend or boyfriend along." He looked for her answer and Kayla couldn't bring herself to say no…nor could she think of any reason she would.

"So what do you say? Will you help me out?"

How could she say she already had plans when he wouldn't give her a date.

"There will be free food and an open bar…" He teased before picking up his final papers as the printer started again.

"Alright"

"Great, I'll have to check my schedule for the exact date but I'll get back to you on it."

"Okay thanks"

"See you around" He said before leaving her to quickly pick up the three papers that made up his schedule and nearly running out the door, ignoring the confused voice of Terry behind her.

She almost got herself hit crossing the street and angered a few taxi drivers in her race to the parking garage. She went up the steps two at a time, but slowed to a fast walk when the car came into sight, she felt like a fool running towards it when the Joker had his head hanging out the window.

"Good girl, back with 3 minutes to spare." He said as she got in and he held out his hand for the schedule.

Kayla handed it to him, suddenly feeling very…accomplished. The way he smiled at her…well…she hadn't let him down…and she _hated_ letting people down. She wondered why the feeling of pride seemed so foreign to her. Then she wondered why she felt proud for her actions at all.

He quickly looked it over, still grinning, before setting it down and starting the car, humming some tune she didn't recognize as he pulled out.

"Now, how would you like to learn how to use a gun? Hmmm?" He asked playfully

Kayla considered his offer, there was more than just teaching her to use a gun hidden in it and they both knew it. She thought quickly, he wasn't letting her go anytime soon and escape would be much easier if she gained some of his trust if that was possible. Plus constantly fighting an ideological battle with him was exhausting on her mind when the things he said to her made sense and she knew they shouldn't.

She put on an almost sinister smile that she couldn't tell if she faked or not. "I'd love to."

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**Hope you enjoyed, **_**please please please review!! **_**It puts a smile on my face!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Okay…so getting one up before school didn't work so well…sorry about that ******

**Thank you so much to my reviewers…they really encourage me to continue writing this story…not that a character like the Joker isn't encouragement enough but…**

**So without further ado here is chapter 12**

**Oh and I own nothing but Kayla**

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During these next days with the Joker, Kayla found herself beginning to confuse the real world with the one she was currently residing in. What she once considered normal now seemed strange and almost unnatural for her. The fact that she was completely aware of this change however, made her believe she was still on the periphery, looking in on herself.

Her feelings towards the Joker were certainly starting to shift, he made her nervous and blush slightly when he trained her to use a gun, most likely because of his insanely close proximity, she recalled.

…………………………………………………………………………………

"Alright it's not a time bomb." The Joker said to her, licking his lower lip and referring to the tense way she held the gun and eyed it.

Kayla simply shot him a dirty look, making him smirk playfully at her.

"Now put this in." He handed her one of her two magazines and she, with an unsure face, put it in; knowing her cheeks were blazing because she felt like a complete idiot.

"Pull the slide back to load the chamber." Kayla did so, purposely pointing the gun towards his face to see if she could make him nervous, though her finger was off the trigger; obviously she failed miserably.

He stood in front of her and adjusted her hands, humming to himself as he did so "Left hand…here…thumbs there, hmmm." He looked them over before looking at her feet and bending down to tug her left foot forward slightly. "Spread your legs out a little, you're not walking down a runway."

"Now pull the hammer and shoot." He said with a smile

Kayla looked around the kitchen/living room "_Shoot at what?"_ She thought frustrated

He looked annoyed at her expression of confusion and pointed the gun towards his chest, giving her an evil grin as he several steps back.

Kayla knew this had to be a trick, he would never actually ask her to shoot him, but she had seen the bullets in the magazine and they hadn't looked fake from what she could remember. She hesitated, pointing the gun at him while she thought.

"Shoot me." His voice was rather demanding, before changing to almost a whisper "What are you waiting for?" He questioned

Kayla tried to think of something, _anything_, she was missing in some badly timed mental lapse; she closed her eyes, still pointing the gun at him.

"Do it! Shoot me!" He yelled at her in some horrible demonic voice, effectively scaring her into pulling the trigger.

To her relief, nothing happened, and she suddenly remembered she still had the safety on. Kayla sighed and put the gun down, a small laugh escaping her lips because of her own stupidity.

The sound of the Joker's low, devil-like laughter pulled her out of her thoughts and she looked up at him with rage; contemplating how many shots she could put in him before he was to dead to feel the pain.

"Why did you make me do that?" She demanded

"Just to see if you would, and you didn't disappoint." He snickered

Kayla shook in confusion "Why would you want me to have the guts to shoot you?"

"It wasn't for me, it was for you." He corrected as his tongue darted out to wet his lip "Just so you could see…how alike we really are."

"And there you go again…" Kayla said lowly, more to the floor but sensing he would allow her to talk like his equal in this conversation, a rare occurrence "comparing us."

"You only care about them" He said slowly "as long as they contribute something to your own little life."

"That's not true." Kayla said defiantly

He dropped the topic and instead gave her one of those confusing looks of his before he walked over and roughly pulled up her hands, still clutching the gun, and turned the safety off. He then walked over to the kitchen and got a sharpie and drew what she supposed was a bull's-eye on the wall, before walking back towards her and motioning for her to shoot.

Kayla lost the slight nervousness she had possessed the first time she _thought_ she was shooting the gun, still slightly agitated by the Joker's little pranks. She took the stance he had shown her and fired the gun; she was surprised at the recoil, it wasn't like in the movies, and was embarrassed when she missed completely. And not only did she do it once, but 4 more times.

He, of course, thought this was hilarious, probably her embarrassment more than her actual aim. But this was when things got…uncomfortable…at least for her.

The Joker came up behind her and wrapped his arms around the, hands clasping around her own as he aimed for her. She was frozen and she was sure he could feel her breathing stop and her body involuntary shudder; he probably loved every second of it too. She fired the gun several times with him 

standing there, willing him with her mind to go away; she couldn't stand being able to feel his breath on her neck and ear, or his hands around hers.

He finally backed away and turned to leave she barely comprehended what he was saying, something about remembering "that practice makes perfect" and that she "needed a lot of it"

All she was able to do was sit down when he left. "_Why did I act that way, I'm not 15 anymore, and it's not as if I'm attracted to him...am I."_ Kayla thought to herself and let out a nervous laugh.

It would be just like her if she was, she always had a thing for unavailable men, and though he wasn't married the fact that she was sure he was beyond being involved in any sort of romantic relationship…any relationship at all…made him unavailable.

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The Joker was clearly aware of this change in her as he was much more careless when it came to isolating her. He left his purple suit coat alone with her on several occasions and out of curiosity she searched through its numerous pockets, usually finding nothing but knives, but one day discovering his phone; Kayla could only bring herself to stare at it for several moments before quickly putting it away and sitting down to think.

She didn't want to call her friends, some fear was quietly hidden in the back of her mind that their distressed and alarmed voices would wake her from the lucid dream she felt she was experiencing.

Kayla also somehow began a close to motherly role in the building, though it had started out of her own desire to eat off of clean dishes and sleep in a clean bed, somehow the men seemed to mooch off of her every favor they could. She supposed she didn't really mind, _some_ of them were actually nice enough, and she had nothing better to do most days but practice shooting. She was becoming better quickly though, once she had caught on. She even cooked meals for herself, occasionally the Joker, and a few of them who were nice enough to bring her home food from the store. And though Kayla knew better than to think she would get a simple 'thank you' from the Joker on the days she would wash, iron, and put away his clothes and bedding, and cook his dinner; it still somewhat annoyed her.

A day was passing by slowly, like most. Kayla was watching television for anymore news about the search that was being conducted for her when she stopped showing up to work again and a co worker went by her apartment and she hadn't been there. The Joker came in looking as excited as ever, carrying a bag of some sort in one hand.

"Well hello there." He came to stand by her on the couch and looked down at her giddily.

"Hey" Kayla said back with a smile, she suddenly realized how much she had missed him talking to her, after all some days she never even saw him.

He knelt down next to her and she turned off the tv and faced him, giving him her full attention. She was surprised at the softness of his voice.

"Listen, I'm feeling rather ahhh, charitable right now and I've got someplace to go and a spot open for someone to come with me." He opened his mouth slightly and let his tongue trace the inside of his cheeks before continuing. "So I'm giving you the option to continue doing…whatever it is you're doing around here, or come with me and have a little fun for a few hours." He finished, watching her expression with a smile.

"I'll come with you." Kayla answered without hesitation; it seemed forever since she'd seen the outside world. She quickly asked the question she knew she should have posed first "Where are we going?"

He stood up and straightened his purple suit, looking pleased "You ever wanted to meet the mob?" He asked simply before dropping the bag at her feet.

Kayla didn't really know how to answer that…no…she had never really had any desire to meet the mob, but think of saying that to him.

He apparently didn't expect an answer "We'll be leaving at 11 so I'll meet you by the doors then." He said as he was walking away but quickly turned his head back to her "Oh and here" he said as he threw her something black "You're welcome"

And he was gone. Kayla glanced at what a flick of a button revealed to be an OTF automatic knife, and then glanced at the contents of the bag; she feeling a wave of excitement and thrill pass over her as she carried the bag up to their room.


	13. Chapter 13

**Thank you all so much for the reviews! They are all amazing and I love hearing that so many of you are enjoying the story.**

**Sorry for the delay, but tonight is the first I haven't worked since Wednesday; another will probably be up Wednesday unless I get a chance Tuesday.**

**I own nothing but Kayla, DC owns the rest.**

**And now for your enjoyment is Chapter 13! **

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Kayla glanced at her watch as she jumped in the shower. _"9:30, plenty of time." _She washed up and began pulling out the…well, new outfit…the Joker had given her. It made her look like a female extension of him rather than a different person.

She pulled on a pair of very tight purple pants, which tucked into some slim, soft leather, square toed, and high heeled boots with tons of buckles that came up to just below her knee. On top she had a rather low cut black collared shirt with ¾ length sleeves and a striped green vest to go over the top of it. She was glad that despite the colors still being rather bright and…Jokerish, the clothes were still very feminine in their fitting. He also had, to her strange delight, provided her with a pair of purple gloves; they were also in a women's size and fit her very well, appearing to be a style of drivers gloves based on the large open back between her wrist and knuckles.

Deciding to have some fun with this, she put on her eye makeup very heavy, putting total black on the bottom, and black and purple mixing on top, dabbing green in the outer corners for a little extra effect. Then put the rest on as usual and began doing her hair, making it messier as though she had just gotten out of bed.

She looked at herself in the mirror, fiddling the knife in her hands and realized she looked, well, there was no nice way to put it: crazed, maybe bordering on badass.

Kayla stuck the knife in an inside pocket of her vest and made her way down the stairs, feeling emboldened and insane. When she reached the entrance she saw the Joker casually sitting in one of the chairs staring out the window with a group of 2 other men until he heard the soft clicking of her heels. She smirked as she walked towards him and he returned it, eyes widening as he took in the sight of her.

He stood up and she realized she loved her extra 4 inches of height; it made her at least at eye level with his nose.

"Well look at you…I'll admit I had my doubts, but you have defiantly given my outfit ahh…" He trailed off as though he lost his thought as he gazed at her "woman's touch."

Kayla pulled out her knife, part of her felt like she was watching this conversation from the sidelines in disbelief. "So will I get the chance to try this out on anybody today, or is it just for show?" She questioned him playfully.

He held out an arm for her to take as he led her through the doors and into the SUV "Well it'll all depend on how things go, or don't go." He answered her as he opened the door to the vehicle and got in the passenger seat; the other two men came behind them, one sitting next to Kayla in back and one driving.

The Joker rattled off some address to the driver and Kayla was happily riding in the car with them without a blindfold of some sort on.

They pulled to the edges of Gotham near the lake to a rather busy looking hotel and brought the car around to the back of the tall building, getting out of the car.

"The mob is meeting _here_?" Kayla questioned the Joker from behind as they walked towards one door of many at the very end, unable to understand why they would choose an such popular hotel.

"The mob all but delivers the room service in this hotel." He answered and suddenly held up a hand motioning for her to stop before proceeding up to the door and knocking on it loudly.

"Ready boys" He said to the two as though he was talking to dogs and they acknowledged him by looking at each other through clown masks and pulling out handguns fitted with silencers.

The Joker knocked again on the door and listened as a voice called through.

"Who is it?"

"Were here to join the fun." He called in a sing song tone through the door

"They're not expecting anyone else." The voice answered and the Joker nodded at one of his thugs, motioning towards the door handle.

"Well they wouldn't be." And with one quick movement the Joker stepped back and two carefully aimed shots were fired at the door handle which the Joker quickly opened and pulled Kayla close to him behind the now unlocked door as his two men exchanged several shots with the few men inside, defeating them with the element of surprise.

They walked in and looked around; it appeared to be a rather unused corner of the building, but based on what the Joker had said there was a possibility that the lack of people was not coincidental.

There were only two hallways to go down, one right in front of them and another on their left.

The Joker turned to his two masked men "You two go that way with her and get the guys at the other entrance." They nodded and began to walk down the hall, Kayla began to follow but the Joker grabbed her by the arm and yanked her around to face him.

"You didn't think I would get you all dolled up just to follow those two hmm?" He teased her

Kayla smiled genuinely, she was so relieved he was still in a good mood "Well what do I get to do?" She questioned raising a brow at him. If he smiled any wider she thought his face might just crack.

"There's a door when you go around the corner…" He said quickly, motioning with his head to the turn in the hall where his two thugs still waited "You'll see it leads to a kitchen area, that's where they are. Don't go in until you see me, this hall leads the same place. " He motioned to the one that was straight in front of them "All you have to do is walk around look as intimidating as you can, if you can. But if anyone makes a move for the door and I'm not finished… " He trailed off and pulled out his own knife, eyeing it with a smile; she understood what he meant, of course. "Now, I'm not exactly popular with their crowd, you know why. So don't expect and any ahhh… brownies and cupcakes when we go in."

"That's what you brought me here for?" She asked in disbelief as he retreated down the hall.

"What can I say, you make me look good." He said without turning around "You may want to hurry, it's rude to be late." He stopped suddenly and turned "Oh and Kayla, stay behind them." He said in a warning tone before continuing.

Kayla heeded his word, still unsure of why he brought her for something anyone could do, but breathed a sigh of relief she hadn't realized she was holding since he hadn't asked her to do anything…complicated. He may after all still kill her if she screwed up.

She suddenly realized that that was probably the first time he had ever called her by name, it sounded strange and foreign but in a pleasant way.

She went as quickly as she could up the his goons, the heels she was not accustomed to wearing impairing her running ability slightly, and followed them down a hall as they encountered two more men. They were easily taken out because they found them sitting on the floor talking, guns across the room on a table. Kayla tried to tell the Joker's men there was no reason to kill them, but they only looked at her and laughed to themselves before shooting them anyway.

A few more paces and she saw a door on her right, which she could see led into a kitchen but didn't want to look in for fear of being seen. Instead, she simply ducked down and crossed to the other side where she could see the direction from which the Joker would be entering and no one else could see her. She could hear everything through the door as well.

The men continued on checking the rest of the hall, and Kayla felt herself growing nervous now. She didn't know why, all she had to do was walk around as he said, and kill someone if they tried to leave. She supposed the latter was making her nervous, what if she couldn't do it this time? Kayla really didn't know how high the chances of that happening were but she hoped they were low, even with a knife could she fight off a man or several of them? The Joker must have some alternative threat or plan to put into action besides herself acting as a human punching bag.

She turned her attention to listening to the men inside

"Two bit whack job, wears a cheap purple suit and makeup. He's not the problem, he's a nobody." A voice sounded through the door "The problem is our money being tracked by the cops."

Another voice, this time with what sounded to Kayla like an Asian accent spoke "Thanks to Mr. Maroni's well placed sources, we know that police have indeed identified our banks using marked bills. They are not planning to seize your funds yet, and since the enthusiastic new DA has put all my competitors out of business I'm your only option."

Another voice "So what do you propose?"

She heard the Asian man answer "Moving all deposits to one secure location, not a bank."

"Where then?"

"No one can know but me. If the police were to gain the leverage of one of you, everyone's money would be at stake."

Kayla heard a new voice, with an even thicker Italian accent "What stop them from getting to you?"

"I go to Hong Kong" "_Ahhh Chinese"_ Kayla thought to herself "far from Dent's jurisdiction," He continued "and the Chinese will not extradite one of their own."

"How soon can you move the money?"

"I already have. For obvious reasons, I couldn't wait for your permission. Rest assured, your money is safe."

Kayla was still trying to calm herself, now eyeing the wall in front of her rather than the room; surprisingly, and unfortunately, the thing that soothed her was something that should evoke fear instead.

The Joker's low cackling laughter began to ring out from the side of the room, she could hear it clearly right through the door but decided to wait until he appeared before she entered with a sly smile on her face and eyed the men before staring at the Joker as she began to walk around the table. She also noticed that oddly enough, the Chinese man's voice had been coming through a television. The men in the room looked around; a serious look of confusion crossed their faces as they watched the Joker and herself enter the room.

"Ha ha ha ha, hahaha, ha, ha, ha, oh, a-hee-hee, ha ha, oh, hee hee, hee ha, ahaha" The Joker laugh rang out as he walked towards the table "I thought _my _jokes were bad." He said eyeing them all disapprovingly.

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't have my boy here pull your head off." A tough looking black mob boss on the other side of the table from Kayla said, motioning to one of his own thugs.

Kayla looked at the Joker, unsure if he wanted her to do anything though she had no idea what, but he apparently had his own plans.

"How 'bout a magic trick?" He leaned towards them slightly, studying their bewildered faces. He picked up a pencil and slammed it into the table point first, twirling his hand around it dramatically as the mob boss motioned for his man to finish the clown off.

"I'm going to make this pencil disappear."

Kayla froze where she was as she saw the man start towards the Joker; she had no idea what he was doing.

But before she could even think about it the man moved to grab him and with one swift, yet powerful motion he grabbed the man's hand and used his other to ram his head down onto the pencil, causing it to go through an eye socket and 'disappear' as he slid limply off the table.

"Ta Da! It's…it's gone." The Joker exclaimed, staring at empty table with mock surprise before his eyes shifted to glare at the men sinisterly.

She took less than a second to think about what she had just seen and couldn't hold back a low laugh as the men turned from the Joker to look at her briefly, horrified.

The Joker sat down and Kayla continued to walk slowly around the table, trying to pay more attention to the men instead of the Joker, but found that incredibly difficult.

"Oh, and by the way, the suit? It wasn't cheap. You ought to know, you bought it." He stated while adjusting it, and his eyes quickly flickered to her giving her a rather smug look.

"That's it." The black man spoke up again, standing up

"I want to hear proposition." The Italian spoke up from the opposite side of the table.

The Joker looked from the fuming mobster to the more open minded Italian and he slowly sat down.

"Let's wind the clock back a year. These cops and lawyers wouldn't dare cross any of you. I mean, what happened? Did-did your balls drop off, hmm? You see, a guy like me-"

"A freak" The man cut him off causing laughter to ring out through the room. Kayla stopped her pacing on the side of the table opposite the Joker, deciding to give in and just watch what was happening instead as everyone had seemingly forgotten about her anyway.

"…A guy like me…" He stared at the table lost in thought before quickly turning his attention back to them "Look, listen, I know why you choose to have your little" He cleared his throat theatrically "'group therapy sessions' in broad daylight, I know why you're afraid to go out at night: The Batman. See, Batman has shown Gotham your true colors unfortunately. Dent…he's just the beginning, and as for thee uh…television's so-called 'plan', Batman has no jurisdiction. He'll find him and make him _squeal_. I know squealers when I see them, and…He trailed off, pointing at the television screen which had had enough and shut off the feed.

"What do you propose?" He was questioned

"It's simple. We, uh…kill the Batman." The Joker said simply, causing more laughter to erupt in the room.

"If it's so simple, why haven't you done it already?"

"If you're good at something, never do it for free."

"So" the Italian spoke again "how much you want?"

The Joker paused briefly before answering "Uhh…half"

He was met with more laughter.

"You're crazy." One stated

"I'm not, no I'm not." The Joker responded defiantly "If we don't deal with this now, soon, uh, little–Gambol?–here won't be able to get a nickel for his grandma."

"Enough from the clown!" The man she now knew as Gambol roared, slamming his fist on the table and angrily rising from his seat.

"Ah ah ah ah" The Joker warned rising from his seat as well and quickly sliding his hand to the inside of his suit pulling out a long string attached to his thumb and opening the inside of his suit to reveal it was wired with grenades. "Let's not _blow_ this out of proportion." He emphasized his words by giving a few little tugs on the string.

Kayla slowly moved towards the door, sensing that this little chat was nearing its end fast.

"You think you can steal from us and just walk away?!" Gambol asked furiously.

"Yeah" The Joker quickly retorted in a matter-of-fact tone.

Gambol did not like his response "I'm putting the word out: five hundred grand for this clown dead, and a million alive–so I can teach him some manners first."

The Joker seemed un phased by this death threat and continued "Ah, uh…all right. So listen, why don't you give me a call when you want to start taking things a little more seriously? Here's…my…card." He said, holding out a Joker playing card and setting it down on the table in a very slow, deliberate fashion.

He slowly backed out towards the door, waving his thumb as he retreated through the door Kayla held open for him and they swiftly left the hotel.

Kayla didn't speak until they we're back in the car; she was having difficulty reading the Joker's mood and didn't want to get him angry at her.

"So umm…that didn't seem like it went well." Kayla stated, but it almost came out as a question.

"Mmmm, it went about how I expected; Gambol will just _have _to be taught a lesson though." He responded, smiling at her via the side mirror of the SUV.

Relieved his good mood had lasted, she smiled along with him as they made their way back to the apartment building. She was contemplating ways she could use this to her advantage for the day, since she never knew when he might lull back into the habit of completely ignoring her existence again, or worse.

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**Okay it ends rather abruptly I know, but I don't want to type all my ideas up so I've got nothing to update with later.**

**Please review…they really encourage me to update faster.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Sorry I didn't get this up yesterday…I abruptly came down with the flu or something and didn't want to risk throwing up on my computer or anything like that. Anyway, I hope this is okay considering I'm probably high on Tylenol, Vicks, and cough drops right now so please let me know if something doesn't make sense, there are grammatical errors, or something just doesn't fit right in the story.**

**DC owns everything but Kayla.**

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The Joker opened his car door quickly and turned to watch Kayla get out of hers, suddenly wondering what he should do for the rest of his day. He normally very busy anticipating everyone else's moves in the little game he was playing with Gotham City or he was acting out to ruin them, but today he realized the next moves were those that needed to be made by others besides himself (namely Dent and Batman), and he had already thought of what he wanted to do with Gambol during the meeting.

He didn't have long to think about it as they walked in and Kayla, who was walking slightly in front of him, slowed the pace and turned to him silently asking permission to speak.

"Yes…"

"I'd like to go to my apartment today." She stated simply, but he could detect a hint of nervousness in her voice.

"What for?"

"I need to pick up a few things if I'm going to be staying here."

"I've already picked up a few things for you, why would you need more?" He questioned

"I'd rather not have to wear the same outfits over and over again and-"

He cut her off "I can get you more."

She let out a slightly annoyed sigh and looked away, causing him to snicker.

"What? Don't you like my fashion sense?"

"It's fine if I'm, I don't know, going out to intimidate the mob I guess. But for everyday wear I'd rather not be stuck in these knee high boots and purple pants." She said with a note of irritation in her voice.

"Well I like them, that's why I picked them out-" Now she cut him off

"Well I don't."

He could see her regret her words as anger filled his features and he swiftly slammed her into the wall, causing her to let out a grunt of pain. He pulled out his knife and put it to her face.

"Since when has any of this been about what _you _want?" He snarled at her "So unless you do _want_ me to carve up those pretty little cheeks of yours, I would highly suggest you stop talking to me like a 10 year old brat talks to her rich daddy and start treating me with the respect the man who holds your life in his hands should get." He snarled into her ear

"Mmmm yes, no?" He asked her in a mock whimpering tone that matched the ones escaping from her firmly closed lips.

"Yes" She breathed and he roughly let her go with one final shove into the wall.

He eyed his knife, happy that she was now reminded of who still held _all_ the aces, and figured he had nothing better to do for the rest of the day anyway. Plus, she would be on her best behavior.

"You just happen to be in luck though, because I have nothing to do for the rest of the day."

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Kayla suddenly wished she hadn't made any attempt to get to her apartment, because now she was going with the Joker and didn't want to be in the same room with him right now. It was amazing how fast she could go from almost desiring his company to fearing him, she supposed that was the way he wanted it though.

Really, her reasons for going there were trivial, at least to him they would be. She did want more clothes, but she also wanted to try bring her cat Mop along "_That'll go over well."_ and pick up a few…feminine supplies that she would never in her right mind consider asking the Joker or some of his men to pick up. Maybe she could even pick up something to entertain herself with during his long absences, it was sad that her life revolved around him.

He smirked at her and opened the door back up to the outside world, she hesitated.

"Can I change first?" She asked in a slight pleading tone

The Joker shook his head disapprovingly "Don't press your luck." He warned and nodded his head towards the door.

Kayla walked out, followed closely by him and got into the passenger side of the SUV while he climbed into the driver's side. She was pleased she wasn't blindfolded, but considering she now walked around him with a knife and loaded gun, she figured she'd earned at least that much trust. The pleasant feeling disappeared when the engine roared to life and she realized she would have to suffer through another one of his and she darned to let out an audible groan as he swerved into traffic.

He giggled madly and seemed to be enjoying himself enough that Kayla risked a little sarcasm she was having difficulty holding back.

"You know, we're not in the Daytona 500." She informed him, clutching her seat as they took a turn through a yellow light at close to 30mph.

"That's odd coming from a girl who totaled their car a couple days after they got their license."

"It wasn't my fault, and it wasn't completely totaled."

They managed to reach her apartment in one piece and Kayla suddenly wondered how they would get in unnoticed until she saw the man behind the counter listening intently to a baseball game over the radio with his back turned. He didn't even move as they walked in the door and made their way up the stairs to her apartment.

Reaching the door, she breathed a sigh of relief as he pulled out her key from his jacket; she had completely forgotten about that.

He opened the door for her with a smile and she walked in, hoping he wouldn't follow her around through the place.

"Ahhh Home sweet home." He took a deep breath behind her and immediately wandered to her living room. Though she knew he had been here before she still couldn't stand the fact that he knew his way around so well. It was also painfully obvious to her that the room had been searched by police during the investigation into her disappearance.

She rolled her eyes as he plopped down onto her sofa with his arms comfortably stretched across the back and feet put up on her coffee table. "Yeah just…make yourself at home." Kayla said sarcastically as she wandered to the kitchen in search of Mops food and water dishes, thankful she had kept the same ones from her old dog so they were both too big for a cat. The water was just barely lining the bottom of the bowl and the food was running empty but she smiled happily when the orange calico brushed affectionately against her leg.

"Mops" She picked him up and carried him to the living room, readying herself for an argument.

She walked in to see him now observing her dvd tower intently.

"Not exactly into chick flick, are you?" He questioned pulling out 'Terminator' and 'Star Wars'

"I have a few." She said as he stood up and looked at her cat. You would have thought she had carried in a snake from the way he looked at it, and she suddenly hugged him protectively.

"I didn't ah…see _that _before." He stated, still staring at Mops.

"Yeah um I was wondering if I could bring him with me?" She asked nervously, like a boy asking his parents for his first BB gun.

He chuckled and leaned back on his heels, eyes scanning her ceiling. "No you're not bringing it with."

"Why not?" She questioned "I can't just leave him here to starve."

"Yes you can." He said simply, she should have seen that one coming

" No I can't."

"Here, give him here." He said reaching for him and causing Kayla to take a step back protectively, she had no doubt he would break his neck right in front of her or something. "No"

He put his arms down by his side and visibly rolled his eyes "What are you a devote member of PETA or something?"

"I'm not going to let you kill my cat. What's wrong with him coming along?"

"I'm allergic that's what's wrong. Now hand Garfield over and I promise it'll be quick and painless."

"You have allergies?" Kayla was surprised that he could have something so…human; for his part, he looked rather annoyed.

"Yeah I do." He said shortly "He's got two door right now and one of them ends in front of a semi sooo…."

"I'll keep him out of your room." She bargained, only to cause him to glare at his watch in annoyance.

"Fine" She was about to put him down, but an idea popped into her head and she carried him back to her room get the rest of her things.

Kayla quickly shut the door and grabbed a duffel bag, beginning to rapidly throw more of everything into it; she also included a few items that she had been lacking, a toothbrush, her own showers supplies, and unfortunately a bottle of Advil and a box of tampons.

Going back into her room she searched through her closet and pulled out the plastic box that had helped her survive college. It had inside an assortment of devices to amuse herself with: handheld yahtzee, a rubix cube, an old GameBoy among other things. She swiftly threw a few of her favorites and picked up her cat, taking a moment to thing rationally; she knew she should take his threat seriously, but she wanted a companion on the days he was missing badly. She put Mops into the duffle and hastily zipped it up and walked back out into the living room, trying not to think of how ridiculous she was being right now.

The Joker was now standing near her shelves of cds, he turned and eyed her curiously.

"You've got quite the variety of music here…collector?" He questioned

"No" She answered, and another idea for entertainment popped into her head "Could I bring some along with me?"

"That depends if I like them or not."

"_Figures, he'll probably hate all my favorites."_ Kayla thought to herself, but was relieved he was considering it in the first place. "Okay, what do you like?" She couldn't believe she was actually asking _thee _ Joker what type of music he liked right now.

"Nothing…..whiny…"

"That narrows it down."

"…or scremo…"

"Don't own any."

"…or mushy…"

"Come on" She huffed slightly, seeing he was grinning at her. "Fine," She walked over and browsed through her cds with her eyes, shifting the bag around every once and a while to make the movement inside less conspicuous.

He strangely enjoyed the conversation which caused it to last for over half an hour, even after Kayla had long grown bored and frustrated with it.

"_Nostalgia maybe? Ha!"_ She almost laughed openly at the thought, though part of her couldn't help but consider it. After all, when was the last time he had an enjoyable discussion or debate like this that didn't relate to guns, knives, or explosives?

He seemed to enjoy all forms of rock, though hard rock was his favorite, from the 70s and some 80s. Disco was off limits, along with anything current which he hadn't heard of. She wasn't surprised given his busy schedule he didn't have time to keep up with the music scene.

In the end, she brought along most of what she wanted when he finally headed towards the door.

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I know…another abrupt ending :(

Again…please review and let me know if this is like…horrible awful or something...


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